HOLLYWOOD, Md. (Dec. 9, 2016)—St. Mary's Co. Commissioner Todd Morgan accused Sen. Steve Waugh of spreading "disinformation" about a study the county commissioners had accepted regarding salary increases and their intentions to ask the county delegation for $26 million in borrowing authority.
The study that recommended increasing salaries for county commissioners as well as other elected officials, was required by law, Morgan said, and not as Waugh said in his e-mail a request from the commissioners for more pay.
Waugh's e-mail stated that "county commissioners will request 12 percent pay raises for commissioners and other increases for the Board of Education and County Treasurer."
Of the seven-person panel that completed the study, Morgan said, six approved of the recommendations; only one voted against it.
That member had been appointed by Waugh, Morgan said.
"The study had been established by code… not by the commissioners," Morgan said. "This is not some whim of commissioners.
"If the senator cannot figure out the law… that's a whole other story."
Morgan also slammed Waugh's e-mail for, as the commissioner called it, linking the commissioners' plan to ask for $26 million more in bonding authority with the failure of code home rule in the last election's referendum.
"Having lost the code home [rule] vote, the commissioners will request $26 million in new debt authority," Waugh wrote in his e-mail.
Morgan said the failure of the code home rule initiative was not connected to the commissioners' request for borrowing authority.
Morgan came out against home rule in the final weeks leading up to the election.
"That didn't have a damn thing to do with it," Morgan said.
Commissioner John O'Connor warned that infighting between the county commissioners and the delegation to Annapolis was counterproductive, especially since the county has many road projects that need to be addressed.
"The delegation should be working with us on this," O'Connor said. "All these infrastructure needs have been put off."
Waugh chided Morgan for his remark during the county commissioner morning session.
"The commissioners need to focus more on being professional and doing what St. Mary's County wants, and avoid juvenile tirades that are clearly misguided," Waugh said Wednesday.
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