On Tuesday, the County Council rejected changes to the County Charter by a 6-5 vote when it comes to adopting budgets and raising property taxes. If it had been approved, the proposal would have appeared as a referendum on the General Election ballot in November.
Given the increased size of the now 11-member Council, the Charter Commission had proposed requiring only a two-thirds vote by the Council to approve county budgets and the levying of property taxes.
But the majority of the Council decided to maintain the unanimous vote by all Councilmembers as a requirement for these fiscal considerations. This section of the Charter has gone through several changes over the years, often prompted by the size of the county council. The current provision requiring a unanimous vote was written into the Charter in 2008.
