Mailer Stirs Controversy in Ward 2 Race

against challenger Robert Croslin, says he stands behind charges laid out in a recent mailer sent out by his campaign which asked if the city council was "waiting to increase your taxes" after the election. 

As the municipal campaign season winds into its final days, the mailer has attracted criticism from Croslin's supporters and current city council members, who say Hiles mischaractarizes the motivations of city council members who, on April 22, voted against setting the property tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year, delaying Mayor Marc Tartaro's budget approval schedule. 

In the mailer, Hiles writes "I was one of five council members who tried to keep the tax rate at 63 cents per $100 of assessed value", the same property tax rate the city has had since 2005. The mailer goes non to ask why other city council members did not agree to keep the property tax rate the same.

In an interview, Hiles verified that the mailer was sent by his campaign, and he took complete responsibility for its content. 

"The rate has been 63 cents since 2005," reads the mailer, which is attached to this article. "Are they waiting to increase your taxes after the election?  Are they waiting for a new council with five, maybe six, inexperienced new members who might well go along with senior members?"

T. Carter Ross, a Croslin supporter and Ward 2 resident, took to the HOPE Listserv to critique Hiles' mailer. He echoed concerns over a lack of city budget spending information voiced by city council members who voted against adopting the FY14 property tax rate.

"Hiles makes the claim that a group of sitting council members want to raise property taxes based solely upon their votes in the April 22 Council Meeting to not set the tax rate before details of the city budget were known," wrote Ross. "The council was supposed to begin writing the FY2014 budget in March. However, no budget book has been released by the city staff and while the mayor has insisted that the next budget requires across the board cuts of 13% to 15%, there have been no details for the council to discuss or debate. Given the lack of information, it is no surprise that the vote to set a tax rate failed."

In an interview, Hiles stood by his claims, saying that he did not believe the lack of a complete budget book was an adequate reason to delay adopting the same property tax rate the city has had for the last seven years. 

"It's really sort of basic. If they want to take the position that they don't know enough, that's okay, but to tell you the truth, we have to make decisions with imperfect information," said Hiles. "If you choose to wait for perfect information, that's a recipe for never making a decisions…you make the best decision you have and you work with it."

Hiles said that if the council can't agree to keep the tax rate the same, even without "perfect information", then he wonders if there might be plans afoot to raise taxes. 

"You have three choices, you can keep it the same, you can reduce it, or you can raise it," said Hiles "What is left when you have a $1 million drop in revenue?"

On the HOPE Listserv, city council members who voted against setting the property tax rate on April 22 registered their objections to Hiles' characterizations of their votes. 

Councilor Candace Hollingsworth (Ward 1) also took issue with Hiles' mailer. Posting to the HOPE Listserv, she leaked an email sent from Hiles less than 12 hours before the April 22 meeting in which he wrote to Hollingsworth that he was "ok with waiting" to set the tax rate. It provided a rare, if brief, peek into how city council members use email to debate city policy. Emails between city council members on the topic of legislation pending before city council are exempt from disclosure under Maryland's Public Information Act. 

Hiles' leaked email came in response to an email from Hollingsworth in which she wrote "it would be premature to set the tax rate tonight. I am not saying that we should definitely increase the tax rate, but I cannot say conclusively that we should NOT increase it without proper information. I'd like to impress that we reconsider voting to keep the tax rate tonight without the draft document in front of us."

"Insinuating that those who would like to see information that could be made available to them before making budget decisions will plot a course for more expensive city services is a bit of a stretch," wrote Councilor Tim Hunt (Ward 3).