Government & Politics

‘Broken promise’: MoCo unions decry proposed reductions to negotiated raises 

Jawando says County Council must fully fund collective bargaining unit contracts without property tax rate hike

By

Ceoli Jacoby

April 17, 2026 5:50 p.m. | Updated: April 17, 2026 5:57 p.m.

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Members of three employee unions stood behind Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando (D-At-large) on Friday afternoon in Rockville as he called for a fiscal year 2027 county operating budget that fully funds union-negotiated contracts without raising property taxes. 

“This is not a routine budget or budget discussion,” Jawando said during the press conference at the council office building. “We are at what I believe is a defining moment in who this county is … and really, who carries the burden when times get hard.” 

With his announcement Friday afternoon, Jawando joins the growing chorus of councilmembers saying they will not support a property tax rate increase in light of recent federal job cuts and general economic uncertainty. 

Earlier on Friday, council President Natali Fani-González (D-Dist. 6) unveiled an alternative to County Executive Marc Elrich’s proposed $8 billion county operating budget for fiscal year 2027 that doesn’t include his recommended dedicated property tax rate increase to fund Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). Fiscal year 2027 starts July 1. 

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Instead, Fani-González’s $7.9 billion proposal calls for implementing a bracketed income tax structure and a 2% a general wage increase across county agencies — a lower rate than expected by members of collective bargaining units that recently negotiated new contracts with the county. Those contracts would be fully funded under Elrich’s proposal. 

Her plan also calls for the council to find an additional $25 million in savings from areas such as the Montgomery County Economic Development Corp., the Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy and payments to municipal governments. 

Union reactions 

In a Friday memo to her council colleagues, Fani-González acknowledged that her call for lower wage increases would be “a tough pill to swallow for partners in labor who negotiated in good faith.” However, she wrote, “I would never suggest this change if there was another viable way that did not lead to us cutting direct services to the most vulnerable.”  

Jawando disagreed with her approach, saying the 2% uniform general wage adjustment is “not a budget savings — that’s a broken promise.” 

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“This is a people budget, and you don’t balance a people budget on the backs of the people doing the work,” he said during Friday’s press conference, garnering claps and cheers from the union members in attendance.  

Lisa Blackwell-Brown is the secretary and treasurer of UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO, the union that represents non-uniformed county government employees.  

Speaking at Friday’s press conference, she said it is “not the right or privilege of the County Council” to ignore the union’s agreement with the county, which includes a 2.85% general wage increase in fiscal year 2027.   

“The individuals that we represent provide the critical services every single day that this county enjoys,” Blackwell-Brown said. “We are demanding that the County Council fund not [just] our contract, but all labor agreements that were on the table.” 

Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) President David Stein urged the council during Friday’s press conference to fully fund teacher contracts and the school district’s requested operating budget.  

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Fani-González’s operating budget plan includes lowering the county’s contribution to MCPS from $2.52 billion to $2.43 billion.  

The proposed $2.43 billion is $90 million more than the county’s contribution to MCPS for fiscal year 2026, but $100 million less than what the district requested for fiscal year 2027.  

The district’s total requested budget for fiscal year 2027 is $3.79 billion, representing a 5% increase over current spending. It includes a 3.25% base salary increase for staff.  

“We cannot balance our budget woes on the backs of students and county employees,” Stein said during the press conference. “We do not have to choose between funding education and funding essential services. We can and we have to do both.” 

Pia Morrison, president of SEIU Local 500, the union representing MCPS support staff, said agreements negotiated in good faith “must be honored with real investment.” 

“Anything less sends the wrong message to the very people we rely on every single day,” Morrison said.  

Jawado’s plan 

Compared to the plan Fani-González presented earlier in the day, Jawando’s alternate budget plan was less detailed when it came to possible cuts.  

Pressed for details during Friday’s press conference, Jawando said he would consider some of the cuts proposed by the council president, including to the Montgomery County Green Bank, which helps residents and businesses get funding for weatherization and clean energy projects.  

Jawando said the council would need to consider discretionary spending, unspent balances, and county programs that are new this fiscal year or aren’t working as intended. He also suggested that some cuts to the MCPS requested budget would still be necessary. 

“We go line by line through the budget, and we have the hard conversations, and there’s trade-offs and consequences,” Jawando said. “But the contracts that workers bargain for in good faith are not on the table, full stop.” 

To generate revenue without a property tax rate increase, Jawando called for keeping the income tax rate at 3.2% for most county residents while increasing it to 3.3% for those making more than $500,000 annually.  

He said that plan would generate $8 million in additional fiscal year 2027 tax revenue that could be put toward a larger inflationary increase in funding the county provides to its nonprofit partners than what Elrich has proposed. 

Elrich’s proposed operating budget would increase the income tax rate for all residents from 3.2% to 3.3%. It also includes a 2.5% inflationary increase for nonprofits, compared to Jawando’s proposed 7.5% increase. Nonprofit organizations asked for an 8% increase. 

Fani-González has proposed four income tax brackets with rates ranging from 2.5% for those making $50,000 or less per year to 3.3% for those making more than $300,000 annually.  

She said that income tax structure would generate an additional $50 million in revenue for fiscal year 2027, which she proposes the county use to help pay down its projected structural deficit of $257.3 million in fiscal year 2028. A structural deficit occurs when a government’s spending outpaces its revenues.  

During Friday’s press conference, Jawando said now is not the time for the county to build up its reserves. He said his ideal operating budget would utilize reserves to fund fiscal year 2027 expenses, as Elrich’s plan proposes. 

“In a normal year, I would say, ‘yeah, let’s build our reserves,’ ” Jawando said. “But we are in an emergency.” 

Political implications

Friday marked the first time Jawando, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for county executive in the June 23 primary election, has spoken publicly against aspects of Elrich’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal – specifically the proposed property tax rate hike.  

The two other sitting councilmembers in the race, Evan Glass (D-At-large) and Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1), have both said for weeks that they do not support the proposed rate hike.  

Elrich, who can’t run for re-election because of term limits, has endorsed Jawando in the race for county executive this year. Jawando also has the endorsement of SEIU Local 500 and made MCEA’s influential Apple Ballot. UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO has yet to endorse a candidate for county executive.  

Asked on Friday if his run for county executive had any bearing on his decision not to support Elrich’s proposed property tax rate increase, Jawando said it did not. 

“This is not a political thing,” he said, adding that he has been consistent about his belief in more progressive tax policies throughout his eight years on the council. 

Asked on Friday afternoon about Jawando’s competing budget proposal, Fani-González told Bethesda Today that she looks forward to seeing the details. “I welcome all councilmembers’ feedback on how to balance the budget without a tax increase,” she wrote.

Bethesda Today reached out to the office of the county executive for comment on both alternative budget proposals, but did not immediately hear back. 

This story will be updated as more information becomes available. 

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine