What a difference a day makes

Yesterday, there was an article in the Baltimore Sun (which I wrote about here) discussing a possible expansion of the senior citizen property tax cut to include other groups as well. Today there is an article in the Sun which states that the County budget is growing 10% which would be funded in part by an increase in property taxes.

Howard's fire property tax - a separate levy used to fund fire operations - would rise 3 cents in the western county and 1 cent in the east, creating a single countywide rate of 13.55 cents per $100 of assessed value.

Why in the heck would the County consider cutting property taxes in one breath and talk of an increase in property taxes in the next breath?

The other frustrating thing noted in the article is the talk of million dollar houses burning down in the western end of the County due to a lack of water. Hmmm. Here and here we see that the fire departments covering the western end have thousands of gallons of water at their disposal, and the equipment necessary to establish a water shuttle operation if needed. Exactly what difference does it make if the fire department brings water with them as opposed to hooking up to a tank or hydrant at the fire scene? A much more crucial factor to fire fighting is how quickly the fire department is notified by the homeowner that there is a fire and how close the fire department is to the fire scene. If a fire starts in the middle of the day when no one is around and the home is not equipped with an alarm system, chances are the fire department will not become aware until someone sees flames shooting through the roof. At that point, the house will burn to the ground. Putting a water tank in the front yard of that home will not make a difference. I love this sentence:

Several large houses in rural areas have burned to the ground for lack of water for fire fighting in recent years.

Really? So the fire department just sits there and watches the house burn to the ground? I’d like to know if there is any basis for that statement or if the reporter pulled it out of thin air.