Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich protests that Virginia “is eating our lunch” when it comes to job growth. Rarely do I agree with the executive, but on this, he is spot on — Montgomery County’s job growth is moribund, the tax base is not growing and our standard of living is declining.
Rather than belt tightening or implementing effective pro job growth policies for the county to increase the tax base, Elrich, in the fiscal 2026 county budget public discussion sessions, is yet again turning to tax increases. His cries will become louder as state funding drops due to overspending in Annapolis.
Elrich blames the county’s job growth woes on bad decisions made 12 years ago. Here’s a newsflash: Elrich has been in local politics since 2006 and was on the council making these decisions. Elrich believes the biggest in impediment to job growth in the county is the bus system. His current solution is to increase taxes on developers to pay for transportation improvements.
Unfortunately, Elrich thinks like a tax-and-spend politician and not a businessperson. He doesn’t understand why his charts indicate that Montgomery County’s tax rate is low, but businesses are still going to Northern Virginia. It is because tax rates are only one part of the equation. When selecting a location, business leaders look at a long list of fiscal and social issues including, but not limited to:
— The cost of doing business: The high cost of doing business in the county includes the building permit process and development impact taxes. Policies like those currently in place in the county are detrimental to business and are directly under his control.
— Public safety: Elrich has made statements demonstrating his lack of support of the police and has defunded them in prior budgets. The County Council proposed that school safety be “reimagined” to removed school resource officers from the schools, which would make our schools less safe. The resulting low morale of the police is contributing to the shortage of police officers, which is leaving the county with a dangerous shortage of experienced officers.
— Education: Many county residents might be shocked to learn that per the U.S. News and World report rankings, Montgomery County no longer has any schools in the top 100 nationwide. I offer that this is due to the diversion away from science, technology, engineering, and math and toward social issues.
— Transportation: It is ironic that Elrich refers to a lack of public transportation options as why Virginia is eating our lunch. Elrich was a staunch critic of Hogan’s plan to expand the American Legion Bridge and the western part of the Beltway that was modeled after Virginia’s public-private partnership success.
— Energy standards: Elrich signed an executive order implementing building energy performance standards that are more stringent than what the state requires.
— Taxes: Elrich’s latest ploy to raise taxes is meant to scare voters that a Republican in the White House will result in massive job loss in Montgomery County. Many of us remember the 1983 A-76 program and the Base Realignment and Closure program that were projected to reduce government workers in the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia region and result in a local recession. It didn’t happen. Adults understand that there are always highs and lows in the economy and corrections are necessary.
— Sanctuary policies: In 2019, Elrich signed an executive order that made Montgomery County a sanctuary county for undocumented immigrants. With that order came the promise of county benefits, regardless of citizenship.
— Job growth in Montgomery county continues to be moribund and rank at the bottom of the jurisdictions in this area. Given the way that Elrich and the County Council are running the government, is there any reason for businesses to come here?
We need common sense and pro-business candidates to come forward that can put together holistic and realistic big-picture strategies without political rhetoric that will bring major players and high-end, good-paying jobs to our county.
Reardon D. Sullivan is a former Republican candidate for county executive and the former chair of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee
