The county commissioners are scheduled to vote today on whether to raise the piggyback income tax. And Carroll's most vocal anti-tax group has already given notice it won't go along with the plan, which would cost the average taxpayer $150 a year.
The Carroll County Taxpayer's Association has presented Commissioner Donald I. Dell with a petition bearing the names of more than 5,000 people who oppose the tax increase.
"We don't believe that it's really necessary," said association member William Drumm. "We think what they [the commissioners] ought to do is stay within the budget they presently have."
The piggyback tax is a county income tax levied in addition to the state income tax. The state, which collects the money and returns it to local jurisdictions, allows counties to charge 60 percent of its 5 percent rate.
The commissioners have proposed raising Carroll's rate from 50 percent to the maximum 60 percent. The change would bring in about $4 million in fiscal 1996.
Commissioners Dell and W. Benjamin Brown said the tax increase is needed to build eight new schools in the next six years to accommodate a student population expected to grow to 28,000 by 2000, an increase of 4,100.
Commissioner Richard T. Yates has said he is opposed to the proposed tax because the commissioners voted unanimously on Feb. 24 to raise the county's impact fee on new construction.
The new fee is $4,487 per single-family home, up from $2,700 in most parts of the county. The fee had been $3,500 in the Mount Airy and Sykesville areas because the county charged an additional $800 to pay for the Gillis Falls Reservoir.
All three commissioners oppose any increase in the county's property tax rate. Carroll has not raised its property tax rate -- $2.35 for each $100 in assessed valuation -- since 1990.
The current rate nevertheless will raise about about $1 million than it did this year, an increase of 1.4 percent, because the assessed value of county property has grown, Budget Director Steven D. Powell said.
Members of the Carroll County Taxpayer's Association said they support the reduction or elimination of programs instead of a tax increase.
"We're not against services; we're against double services," said member William Hurlock.
The association said county-funded transportation services for the elderly and disabled, such as Carroll Transit and a service run by the Carroll County Association of Retarded Citizens, could be consolidated to save money.
Mr. Hurlock suggested eliminating county funding for the Rape Crisis Center, which provides free counseling services to rape victims and accompanies them to police and court hearings. Rape Crisis receives $49,000 in county money.
Association members dispute county budget officials' assertion that a tax increase is necessary to pay for new schools. Members said that too much of the county education budget goes toward administrative costs.
"We feel that it's not spending on teachers so much as that wasted money on bureaucrats," Mr. Hurlock said.
The commissioners also are scheduled to vote today on a proposed increase in the county recordation tax.
The tax would rise to $3.50 per $500 of assessed value from $3.30 on mortgages recorded with the county. The increase would generate an additional $270,000 for the county.
