good morning. i'm tracee wilkins. thank you for joining us for "viewpoint." we are joined this morning with prince george's county executive baker. it's pleasure to have you here. we have a lot to talk about and a very little bit of time to get it all done. so a lot of interesting topics, things that are affecting folks in prince george's county. many were shocked when the county executive introduced his budget proposal that included the 15.6% property tax increase but he said it would benefit students and teachers in the prince george's county school system.

he boasted about more competitive salaries and these embarked on the town halls hoping to convince residents to support his tax increase and encourage their council members to do the same. all while there was a more than 35-year tax cap in place in prince george's. then he changed the proposal, some would say in the 11th hour, requesting $65 million in additional funding pretty much cutting his initial request in half. in the end, the council all but ignored baker's request and approved a 4% property tax increase that generates $34 million. that additional funding will be used for teacher pensions that the state has now passed do you know to the county. but it offers no new programs or increased salary for teachers. that budget is now back in the hands of the county executive and he has the power of line item veto. he has until june 16th to make any changes. this morning we're hoping to get more insight into the county executive's reasons behind that

tax proposal, where it all went wrong for him. and what he plans on presenting to the council in just a few weeks. so thank you again. >> thank you. you did a good job of recapping that. it was a lot. and it was a big proposal. but what i said when i introduced the proposal to the council, if you look at prince george's county, we are growing in every other direction. you know, we have $6 billion for economic development that's happening. crime is down. we are dealing with health care. the only area we're falling behind is education and in order for us to catch up after not making an investment for 35 years in our education system was to put $133 million into the system. so that we can move from the bottom of the state where we're 23 out of 24 up to the top ten. now, clearly after doing eight or nine town hall meetings, listening to everybody, staying at some of these meetings until 12:00 at night, listening to residents, they raised a number

of concerns that we took seriously. one they said well, what happened to the casino money? i thought that was supposed to go to education and we talked about that. that money won't come online to the county until around the year 2017, 2020. i said well, why don't we put a tax cap on it? why don't we put a sunset on the provision for the increase in property taxes? which we offered to the county council in the -- and the day before they took a vote. we also said listen, we understand people, you know, may be a little leery about 7% in terms of education funding being in this in terms of a tax -- i mean, 15%. why don't we lower that to 7%, that gives us half. gives us $65 million to invest in our school system. which is the number i gave to the county council. i said give us $75 million additional money that will bring us at least to the top 15 in this state and will get the county -- get the state -- the county moving.

what the county council did is it's almost like they didn't listen to any of the debate that was going on. in these town hall meetings. instead they came back with a 4% property tax increase or 5% if you consider parking and planning which doesn't invest in education at all. >> well, let's discuss about what the chair said at the county council. the county residents cannot afford it. and part of what he's saying here is backed up by at least one of the judges in the prince george's county courthouse who testified during budget hearings and said she is still seeing up to 500 cases dealing with foreclosure in prince george's county. she is saying that with folks having these kind of financial issues it's major issue. how do you convince county residents to pay higher taxes when they're -- >> well, if the county can't afford it then you certainly don't do a property tax increase for park and planning. if we can't afford an increase,

you certainly don't do it for park and planning. and if your county can't afford it don't do a 4 cent increase in education that won't help us in education. so either it's one way or the other. they did the worst possible thing. they raised people's property taxes but they don't have any of the money go toward our school system. that's something i said to them you know, is unacceptable to me. >> well, one of the things that the chair said and also other council members, like park and planning is having some serious issues with finances. at some point they have to have their structure shored up and these programs, the parents don't want the programs cut. >> it goes back to the original question can we afford it? it's belt tightening time. if we're going to invest, we invest in education because that's going to move the property values because that will attract people to the county and businesses. you don't raise taxes to build another park. we have one of the best park

systems in the nation in prince george's county. >> well, it sounds to me like what they're trying to do is maintain what we have at this point. we'll continue this discussion and also discuss the law this some folks are saying has been violated by even proposing to raise taxes without taking it to the voters. please stay with us. we'll have more "viewpoint" coming up in a bit. they make little hearts happy and big hearts happy too because as part of a heart healthy diet those delicious oats in cheerios can help lower cholesterol. cheerios... how can something so little... help you do something so big. there are a lot of channels on your tv but only so many you want to watch what if you could pay for the types of channels you want and not the ones you don't now, fios brings you a totally new way to customize your tv. starting at $74.99 per month with no annual contract. get custom tv, including internet

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good morning, welcome back to "viewpoint." we are talking with prince george's county executive rushern baker about his proposed tax increase and where that proposal stands now. let's talk a little bit about the spirit of the law versus the letter of the law. >> sure. >> now, the letter of the law, due to a state loophole, gave you the opportunity to raise taxes in prince george's county to deal with the maintenance of effort in education. >> right. >> now, the spirit of the law is that prince georgens have said they want all new taxes to come to the ballot. they want to vote and they don't

want their public officials putting new taxes on them without the opportunity to do it. so while the letter of the law says that it was okay for you to make this tax proposal, what about the spirit of the law? and why not take it to the ballot? >> let me do two things. first of all, what i propose to the council was the increase in education funding where they got that funding from is up to them. what i said is here are the tools that we have, that the state has given us to raise revenues. one of those was to go beyond the tax cap and in just for education. and the reason that doesn't violate the spirit or the letter of the law is the legislature decided in 2012 that places like prince george's county, it's not just prince george's county. there are some other counties out there that had these tax caps but we're getting the majority of their funding from the state. that means they're getting the majority of their funding for fair education system from other parts of the state, whether it was montgomery county, anne arundel county.

the state said we're tired of doing that. we're not going to fund you to the tune we have been funding you. if you want to invest in your school system like montgomery county or howard county or any of these other places, you're going to have to use your own revenues. so when we went back and said, well, we can't, we have a tax cap the voters voted on. they said you can't -- the voters of prince george's county said you can't raise your taxes. the state changed that. and said, yes, you can. just for education though. you can go above the tax cap for education only. >> well, let's discuss the buy-in. because you had senior citizens in prince george's county who no longer have children in the school and you have a number of residents with their children in private schools as well. you're saying we need to raise property taxes to support the school system and there are some who feel they don't have a stake in it. did you fail in making it clear that they do? what are your thoughts? >> no, no i don't think we did. i think people got it. when we went to the town hall

meetings, people didn't say we don't understand why you're asking us to raise the revenues. there were two pertinent questions that they missed. if you're going to do this, it should be an amount that makes an impact on the school system to move it up. don't take my money and put it down a black hole. that's why we asked for the amount of $133 million or $65 million that will take us from the bottom to the top. you know so residents had a problem with that. they said listen, then they said, well, if you start getting revenues in from all these development projects, do we get a tax release? will you reduce our property taxes? we heard them and that's why we put the sunset on there. we know that the casino and other things are coming in around 2018, 2020, why don't we sunset that and reduce the property taxes we have there. you know, residents would get a break. what the council did was the worst of all possible, you know -- what chairman franklin

did and the council was the worst of all possible choices. they raised property taxes on people that aren't going to improve the school system, and they're there forever. there's not a sunset. >> let's talk about this and we can continue this conversation more in a second. but i want to ask you about the idea of prince george's county having the highest taxes in this region. >> that's right. >> higher than the district of columbia, higher than montgomery county, but the lowest return in property value. it's a hard sell. >> no, it is. but convincing them -- our jobs as leaders is to tell the truth. if you want your property values to go up if you want to attract better businesses you need better schools. we are talking about the number of cabinet officials around this region who actually live in montgomery county and the number who live in prince george's county. he can go to a town hall meeting, he'll have cabinet level officials in his county. the reason is because they look at the school system. the school system helps the value of your properties. the school system attracts people who have kids.

that's what we have to do. that's the hard thing for prince george's county. what i heard clear from people was don't just take my money and put it in the school system i don't want to pay more and we're still 23 out of 24. >> well, we'll take a commercial break and we'll have a conversation about the political capital being spent in this push for higher taxes in prince george's county.

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been some words exchanged. do you believe there are some hurt feelings it will be difficult to move on after -- it's unusual in prince george's county. >> well, we have been together on issues throughout the -- my term as county executive. on this critical issue, i think the chairman franklin said it in his statement. he said i was myopic about education. that i was single focused on education and he's correct. that's the single most important issue facing us in prince george's county. the difference is where do we improve the education? i think the property values and people will move in. what they're banking on is i said they're myopic about park and planning. they think that's the most important thing there. they chose to raise people's property taxes for park and planning but refused to invest in education. that's a big fight. that's a big difference of opinion. i am looking at overall what's

going to make the county move forward. that's my job as county executive to figure out how we move the county forward and make sure if i ask people to invest their hard earned tax dollars they're going to invest in something that's going to improve the education system and improve their lives. so yes, we have a big disagreement. >> there are some who would say that the board of education, the school system as a whole has not mattered, $1 billion, we are talking about giving them more money. have we looked at how they have used the money so far? they're wait on the audit to talk about the finances and how the county has been spending the that's an excellent question and it did come up. but from the council members, the only person that gave us a detailed proposal that as dressed some of the -- addressed some of the issues is council member mary layman. she came back and said, here's how we can reduce the amount that you've proposed, mr. county executive. i disagreed with her but it was detailed about moving the school system forward. chairman franklin and the rest

of the council didn't do that. they simply gave a number of a tax increase that won't move school systems forward. what we showed them is dr. maxwell cut $70 million of waste when he came in. he's one of the best superintendents in the nation. they proved to us they were making progress. if they hadn't, i wouldn't have asked people to invest $133 million in the school system. so that question was answered. so that was not what was holding the council up. >> all right. let's talk about line-item veto because you have the opportunity over the next few weeks to look at what the council has passed on to you and if you would like, you can bring up the tax proposal again. what are you going to do? >> well, here's the things i'm faced with. the council has already passed a tax increase on people. the question for me is does -- for $34 million in education spending that won't move us from 23 up to the top 15 is that a good use of taxpayers money? that's one i have to deal with. the other is on park and

planning. do i think it's prudent given where we are financially to raise people's property taxes to build another community center? so that's what i'm weighing, you know, i have to determine whether in fact those are good investments of people's money. i have to tell you on the park and planning, i said from the very beginning i did not think this is the time to do it. i don't think you can ask people for the same reasons they didn't want to increase it for education, i don't think you can ask them to increase it for park and planning. >> are you going to say let's raise property taxes again? >> no, the question is do i cut cut -- do i veto the budget that they gave, because they already raised property tax. i want to be clear to people. the county council has raised the property taxes and the question is will it change prince george's county education system and is it the prudent thing to do in the county? i have to determine if i can accept that property tax increase or reject it.

>> and what are we going to do? >> well, we're going to study what they have given us and determine what's in the best interest of those in prince george's county. >> we have to wait and see what's going to happen with that budget and what you're going to take out of it. and possibly leave in it. is there anything in what the council gave you that you liked? >> yeah, there are things that we agree on. what we disagree on, and it's a fundamental disagree, it's a future of prince george's county and what will get us there. there are things we agree on that we'll leave in the budget. >> we'll talk about the finances of the county and where it stands right now. you're watching "viewpoint." we'll be back in a moment. there are a lot of channels on your tv but only so many you want to watch what if you could pay for the types of channels you want and not the ones you don't now, fios brings you a totally new way to customize your tv. starting at $74.99 per month with no annual contract. get custom tv, including internet and phone. price guaranteed for two years. or from now until june 13th get a $400 visa prepaid card when you sign a 2 year agreement. go to getfios.com. cable just gives you channels. fios

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i'm tracee wilkins. thank you for joining us for "viewpoint" where our guest today is prince george's county executive rushern baker. we'll talk about the finances of the county and where it stands right now. the county has all but used up its rainy day fund for budget gaps and other reasons as well.

there is now $4 million in cash reserves down from $116 million in 2010. this is the fund that has protected the county's aaa bond rating. is the county at risk of losing the bond rating that allows the county to borrow for lower amounts of interest? >> we certainly could be. i mean, it was an issue that was brought up by wall street last year when we used one-time money. that's what the rainy day fund is to pay for on going expenses. one of the reasons i proposed to the county council and the budget that we do 110 layoffs and five days of furloughs was we simply don't have the money. we have cut every department by 5% in the county. we have used as much of our rainy day fund as we possibly could without jeopardizing it. now, the council sent me a budget that restored the 110 layoffs and five days of furloughs and they used one-time money to pay for it. for on going costs and they asked for additional 2% cut

across the board in terms of department. i don't know how you do that. i mean, we're looking at it and trying to figure out how do you do that without taking positions out, how do you not let people go? so we're -- it's serious times. >> let's ask the question that a lot of folks are wondering. is prince george's county in financial trouble? there's still more money to come if the county gets the sdi, there's a certain amount of money for that. the purple line the governor is asking to add more money to that. the county would like that. we have the regional medical center coming on line. a lot of money going out. >> what you just named is a lot of money that's going to be coming in. we've got $6 billion worth of finances that are -- projects that are coming in. we have money in here. so are we in financial trouble, no. but what it means is we've got to do like every other person out there and that is live within our means.

that's what we were -- that's what i was saying to the council. we have to live within our means. that means sometimes you know what, you can't buy that shoe you know shoes that you want. this is not the time for that. you have to be fiscally conservative. you can't use that money that you saved up for that -- for your house. you can't use your mortgage money to go out and buy starbucks. that's what we're saying. it doesn't mean you can't buy starbucks down the road because you're going to get an increase in your job. i mean, we're the place to be. we have all these projects you just named that are coming to the county. they're going to be here. you know, we have a great -- >> well, we don't know about the fbi. >> the fbi is the only one, but the $1.2 billion development at national harbor is coming here. university town center which is right off the arts district in hyattsville which is phenomenal. it will be a huge development, great place to live. we are building a new hotel and

conference center whole foods is coming here. we not only have one harris teeter, but two and possibly more. so we have great stuff coming in. >> let me ask you a couple of questions and what is going to be our lightning round. first of all, you have supported holman in his run for the senate and who are you going to support? who do you want to see in congress? >> well, i can -- say this real quick, we have great candidates. glenn ivy is a good friend of mine. i think he'd make a great congressman. i know derek e. davis, delegate davis is looking at that. i think he'd be great. so we have some great choices there. >> okay. all right. well, thank you so much for joining us. i see what happened here. you did not tell us who you're supporting. we heard that clearly and then you're going to announce it tomorrow. thank you so much for joining us today. have a wonderful morning and stay tuned for "news4 today."

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