Montgomery County Executive Mark Elrich urges revenue reforms after close election, warns of budget shortfalls

County Executive Mark Elrich used a weekly briefing to thank election staff and voters, criticize what he called misinformation tactics this election and urge county leaders to adopt new revenue measures to avoid further cuts to services.

"About 109,000 total votes have been counted so far in Montgomery County," Elrich said, adding that "the Board of Elections is going to resume counting the mail-in votes on Thursday and Saturday this week." He explained that under Maryland law ballots postmarked by election day may be counted up to 10 days after the election.

Elrich called attention to what he described as a "fake sample ballot" distributed to resemble a Montgomery County Democratic sample and said the mailer was "disappointing." He criticized outside spending and "dark money" efforts in recent races and said they had failed "to buy the county government."

On policy, Elrich praised the likely victory of Will Jawando as "a more honest alternative" and said Jawando understands the trade-offs required to fund county services. Elrich argued Montgomery County has long lacked revenue tools available to nearby jurisdictions, saying, "Montgomery County has the lowest taxes on commercial property in the entire DC area," and contrasting that with Fairfax County and the District of Columbia, which he said have higher commercial tax rates and other business taxes that fund transportation and infrastructure.

Elrich faulted the council for not supporting state legislation that would have expanded county taxing authority and warned that relying on reserves is not a sustainable strategy. "You're either going to shrink what we do for people and you can say, 'I lowered your taxes,' or you're going to have to say, 'Let's figure out how we can raise taxes without hurting the middle class,'" he said.

Reporters pressed him on whether he would have more influence in shaping policy now that he will return to the council; Elrich said his role and ability to speak will differ and expressed hope a changed council makeup will be more receptive to revenue changes. He repeatedly cited comparisons with Virginia and DC as models for how to shift more of the tax burden to commercial property to finance capital projects.

Elrich also warned about near-term fiscal pressures, including a multiyear "hole" created by recent budget decisions and rising operating costs, and said he does not expect a federal economic rebound to close those gaps.

The briefing closed with Elrich saying the county will monitor pending U.S. Supreme Court decisions on issues including voting rights and immigration and assess local impacts once rulings are issued.