Montgomery council favors 4.7% tax hike, using reserves to close funding gap

The Montgomery County Council is slated to vote Thursday on a $6.7 billion operating budget built on a property tax increase for residential and commercial properties that galvanized debate over how best to meet the county’s growing needs and who should pay. The draft increase, which would take the weighted average real property tax rate to roughly $1.02 per $100 in assessed value from about $0.98, is less than half of that proposed in March by County Executive Marc Elrich.