The Town of Berlin’s cautious quest for the right balance between growth, prosperity and the preservation of its small- town charm has placed it in more than one unusual situation in recent years. Now, it occupies that same territory as it endeavors to free itself of the debt incurred by its purchase of the Heron… Read more »
Editorial
Cartoon
Cartoon by Jim Adcock
School mask decision moving to local board
The Worcester County Board of Education, like every other school board in the state, is waiting for the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive & Legislative Review to approve the state Board of Education’s decision to end the public school mask mandate. The 20-member review committee, which ensures that proposed regulations don’t run afoul… Read more »
Cartoon
Cartoon by Jim Adcock
Constant Yield Rate: what is it, anyway?
It’s that time of year again, when local governments start throwing around numerous property tax rates and revenue projections based on what’s known as the constant yield rate. The term and the rate come from the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, which decided several decades ago that constant yield rate is a more precise… Read more »
Gazette Cartoon
Cartoon by Jim Adcock
Public needs to pay attention to budget
With Berlin’s water and wastewater utilities continuing to fall far short of breaking even, and a cash reserve that needs big-time bolstering, the public process of hashing out the town’s budget for the new fiscal year takes on greater importance. Property owners — i.e. taxpayers — should acquaint themselves with the town’s fiscal facts now… Read more »
Gazette Cartoon
Cartoon by Jim Adcock
Saleh, Holloway give officials straight facts
If there’s one thing good financial administrators and accountants can be depended on to do, it is to tell it like it is. Massaging the message and sugar-coating the math doesn’t happen, because the numbers are the numbers and can’t be denied. That’s more or less the approach Berlin Finance Director Natalie Saleh took last… Read more »
Cartoon
Cartoon by Jim Adcock