A Q&A with Your Newest Councilmember, Hans Riemer: Part 2

Hans Riemer, the newest at-large member of the County Council sat down with Wheaton Patch immediately following his meeting, along with Councilmember Valerie Ervin, . This Q&A is a continuation from yesterday, where Riemer discussed the county's budget and public transportation. Some answers have been condensed for length.

Wheaton Patch: What major issue has come up since the primary that you will have to work on the council that you weren't expecting?

HR: There's not too many surprises, just the continued deterioration of the budget. Everybody was thinking that the forecasts were going to start to pick up. I had a briefing on our economic situation the other day and the long-term trends are really disheartening. The job market is not going to rebound, its going to stay flat for the next four to five years. That's going to be a lot of hardship and its going to mean that demand for services is going to continue to grow, the county's demographics are going to continue to change, and the tax base is not going to grow. We've got to fix that.

WP: Do have particular ideas or things you want to try in terms of growing the tax base and possible cuts over the next year?

HR: Well I don't have my own set of cuts at this time, but I will be working hard to squeeze every dollar out of every line item in the budget. As far as the tax base, Wheaton is a great example, we improve our tax base over time.

We need jobs in Wheaton so we have more people paying into the county's tax system. Moving quickly and wisely on plans , the 29 corridor, making sure the Rockville Pike and 355 corridor plans don't slip, they stay moving quickly ahead. That's an urgent priority.

WP: Have you been ?

HR: From a distance.

WP: Is there something you'll be looking at specifically in the sector plan?

HR: I don't have any one answer to that, but I want to make sure that Wheaton can , that we recoganize the history of Wheaton.

No one wants to wipe out Wheaton and start over, that's not needed. I'm very interested in building one Wheaton, and encompassing the mall, and I don't think we'll be better off if we try to build a downtown Wheaton on this side of Veirs Mill and let there be another Wheaton on the other side. I want to see what we can do to make that one area. I think that's really crucial to the future of Wheaton.

WP: You mentioned zero-based budgeting during the primary. Can you explain what that is and why you think it's a good idea?

HR: Sure. It's a simple idea, it's that your budget this year isn't based on what you've got last year. And if you're a government agency, you have got to justify every expenditure again every year.

The way a lot of government agencies work is they just assume what they had last year to start off next year, and as a result, that builds in a lot of stagnation because each department within the agency, each group within the department is just assumed to continue forever.

The idea of zero-based budgeting is a you need to work from the ground up to figure out what is your key mission and what are you priorities. What do you need to get that done and how are you going to align all your resources to do it? It's a tool, basically, to try to bring more efficiency out of your spending. And it gives a real high level of accountability to the council, to the county executive, to the fiscal agents to say, you just can't come to here and justify your expense by what you spent the year before.

WP: Is there a particular agency that you think would be a good test-run for this?

HR: Sure. The best test run would be the ones that want to do it, but I think you could try, hypothetically, Department of Recreation. I think that would be one where you might have the good environment. I don't know yet actually, I think the question is, – it requires really strong leadership – because the agency head has to be willing take their budget and start from the ground up. I think the questions is, where do we have that kind of leadership to build a new model? I don't know yet, I'd have to look into the agencies.

WP: What are you looking forward to the most this year?

HR: The joy of the work is just getting to meet the people who are involved in the community and be a resource and figure out how you can help.  And I'm excited about the difficult work of trying to force more savings and a more efficient government in the county in a way that protects our quality of life and upholds our progressive values. It's not really going to be easy, but I really  think I can make a difference, so I'm excited about that.