As a review of my past political history, I had the privilege of serving our citizens for 53 years including the Maryland State Police, the Talbot County Council, and as your Talbot County Sheriff. Of those positions, 28 years were sought and obtained as an elected official.
I have not expressed myself in written form for over four years because I felt it was the elected officials’ duty to maintain our treasured county in a responsible way. However, during these past four years, I have watched a current Council majority voting block move in a direction that will no longer allow us to be the envy of the other 22 Maryland counties. We were once considered an oasis in the desert of sprawl development, and if we continue this trend of making bad decisions, in the future we will be better known as Paradise Lost.
Just to list a few of my concerns, this misdirection of the council majority voting block includes the weakening of our zoning ordinance, which by the way, now has more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese. Think of your children and grandchildren. What will we leave them? Think very hard on that with the changes the council has made. The question is why do individuals want to come here? We hear it all the time. It is simply a wonderful place to live and raise our children. Do we truly want to be like Kent Island? Take time to reflect on this. Who benefits from these changes?
My most serious concern and one that will also affect our grandchildren is the budget. I have watched ill-conceived proposals made to the budget, and quite frankly, this is all unbelievable. Proposals were made to take money out of the Capital Fund and move it the General Fund to cover expenses. This has always been considered a foolish thing to do. Because this proposed plan was executed, in four years our debt service will be over $4 million just on future projects outlined by the council. This $4 million is also beyond the state-required maintenance of effort and will adversely affect required school funding in the future. Where would this money come from? The council like us, the citizens of Talbot County, must live within its means. Again, your children and grandchildren will be saddled with this dreadful burden.
Citizens should also be aware that in these past four years, the total budget has increased dramatically from $74.5 million to over $92 million. Our property tax revenues have increased from $34 million to $41 million.
Of the incumbents running in this election, the only one who should be reelected is Laura Price, a fiscal conservative who wants to preserve our rural countryside for future generations. Please VOTE and consider very carefully your selection of candidates.
Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts with you.
Thomas G. Duncan
Easton
Carolyn Ewing says
You are spot on as always, Tom. Still miss you on the council and at election time. Thanks for your many years of service and your continued involvement. We need it.
Joan Young says
Tom,
I wish you and your former colleagues were still there to work on our behalf!