A recent presentation by MCPS mentioned a $3 billion “deferred maintenance backlog,” based on the results of a study done by an outside consultant. For those of us watching the county’s finances, that’s not a surprise.
Bethesda-based Marriott, a world-class corporation with stellar management, tracks depreciation on its quarterly reports. Any accountant will tell you that depreciation, and the corresponding book value of an asset, give a solid indication of what capital improvements lie ahead for an organization. Refurbishing, replacing, or retiring a depreciated asset comes out of a company’s ongoing revenues. In a well managed business, there is no deferred maintenance.
Question A mandates that growth in county spending does not exceed the rate of inflation except by unanimous vote of the County Council. Some may use MCPS’s deferred maintenance as an argument against Question A: a huge and urgent maintenance liability precludes any restraint on tax increases.
The tool of critical thinking proves this is not true. We had unrestrained tax increases for the past decade or more, we “fully funded” the schools, yet the maintenance was not done. Conclusion: tax increases have nothing to do with alleviating deferred maintenance. They have everything to do with mismanagement.
Mismanagement of the school’s finances is neither a reason to force students and teachers into dangerous buildings, nor a pretext to force taxpayers to fix those buildings. Those who mismanaged the finances need to take responsibility, and at a minimum remove themselves from the budgeting and management process before they do any more damage. Social justice demands nothing less.
After Question A passes, MoCo will benefit from a prioritization toward school maintenance. The county may indeed choose to place a priority on rehabilitating MCPS infrastructure. Alternatively, the county’s leadership may determine that raises for the Board of Education and meeting our climate goals are a higher priority than school rehabilitation. Question A only imposes a prioritization on the budgeting process, not what that priority is. Our elected and appointed leaders will be free to determine that priority.
[From the headline: 怨天尤人 (yuàn tiān yóu rén). “Blame Heaven and accuse others.” A Chinese saying very apt for blaming someone else for MCPS’s deferred maintenance.]
