Would this be considered half a loaf?

Tonight the Salisbury City Council in a 3-2 vote passed an 8 cent per $100 increase in the city's property tax rate cap. If taken fully, this rate increase on non-capital funding taxation amounts to an 11.8% jump.

On the side of profligate spending was Mayor Barrie Tilghman, who wanted the cap (apparently dating from the 1950's) totally removed. At the other extreme was Councilwoman Debbie Campbell, who wanted the cap to stay as is. Fellow Councilwoman Terry Cohen asked for a small 2 cent increase. The compromise measure was approved by Gary Comegys, Shanie Shields, and Louise Smith; Campbell and Cohen voted "nay".

Now the ball is in the mayor's court. She can veto this increase and apparently make the City Council dance to her tune as far as figuring out how to pay for the extra spending she wants. If she vetoes the 8 cent increase, it's going to be difficult to get either Campbell or Cohen to switch sides and support the hike. (Apparently only a petition drive can rescind this increase. My mistake.) Even so, the mayor will have to swallow some cuts in what she intended to spend in the FY2008 budget for the city because I doubt they can borrow a whole lot more to cover any shortfall. (Then again, money to pay back bonds is exempt from this cap I do believe. So they could tax more to borrow more, in theory.)

My bet is that Mayor Tilghman will (grudgingly) take this increase as only a "first step" and complain that the City Council didn't give her all she wanted. So it will be the City Council's fault that the firefighters don't get a raise, for example. It's only a measly 8 cents when she wanted at least 12 cents.

There are other hardball games Tilghman can play though. As one example, where I come from the city of Toledo has a "temporary" 3/4% income tax on top of the 1.5% which they previously collected. (This "temporary" tax has been in effect since before I began working in the city back in 1986.) Every 4 to 5 years this 3/4% levy has to be renewed by the voters, so every time it comes up the mayor threatens to gut the city budget by cutting police, fire, garbage service, etc. and all of the city vehicles get a fresh "support the 3/4% income tax" sticker. It may not happen this year, but just wait for this sort of sob story in next year's budget, particularly if there's little progress on the Old Mall site. (And yes, comparing Ohio taxes to Maryland's is apples/oranges, but the sob story will likely occur, won't it?)

In the meantime, the battle lines appear to be drawn for the next two years. It looks like Louise Smith may have to become Salisbury's answer to Henry Clay, known as the "Great Compromiser." And I get the feeling that not too many will be happy about that in my circles.

Judging by the comments, I'm right on the money aren't I?