Will Did the Work. 81 Line-by-Line Cuts to Protect Your Wallet and Our Schools.
Facing the hardest budget in over a decade, Will Jawando did not just say no to higher property taxes. He sat down and found the savings, line by line, to prove it could be done.
He did the work
When the County Executive proposed raising property tax rates on every home and business, most politicians just picked a side. Will did something harder. He wrote a full alternative budget that closed the entire $189 million gap without a property tax increase and without raising income taxes on working families.
Then he showed his math. Will released a public, itemized list of 81 proposed reductions totaling more than $71 million, each tied to a specific line and page of the county's own budget. He held vendor contracts to last year's levels, deferred programs that had not yet launched, paused non-essential initiatives, and trimmed administrative accounts, while explicitly protecting direct services to vulnerable residents.
This was not a slogan. It was a spreadsheet. Even a frequent critic at Montgomery Perspective gave Will credit, writing that of the three council members running for executive, Will "has engaged in the process of rewriting the executive's budget to avoid the property tax increase in the most substantive and transparent way."
The 81 proposed reductions, at a glance
| Area | Items | Savings |
|---|---|---|
| Non-Departmental Accounts | 15 | $38.6M |
| Vendor contract escalations held to prior year | 13 | $6.8M |
| Multi-agency contract and operating adjustments | 6 | $7.5M |
| Public safety (non-personnel) | 7 | $1.3M |
| Transportation | 6 | $2.6M |
| General services and administration | 6 | $2.7M |
| Department-level administrative reductions | 7 | $3.4M |
| Technology | 3 | $1.9M |
| Environment and recycling | 3 | $1.9M |
| Libraries and recreation | 4 | $1.2M |
| Health and Human Services | 4 | $0.9M |
| Smaller offices and functions | 5 | $1.1M |
| Housing and community development | 2 | $0.7M |
| Total | 81 | $71.5M |
Will's full itemized list is public. Every line cites the page of the FY27 county budget it comes from; category figures are rounded, so see the PDF for exact line amounts. Read the itemized PDF →
He put the burden where it belongs
Will's plan asked nothing more of working and middle-class families. The only tax change he proposed was a small adjustment on income above $500,000, affecting roughly the top 4 percent of earners. He opposed the County Executive's across-the-board hikes and the council majority's plan that raised rates on households making $150,000.
"We should only raise taxes on those who can readily bear the cost, and we should do the hard work of finding the rest of the gap on the spending side." — Will Jawando
"I am not comfortable with raising the tax rate on people making $150,000 a year." — Will Jawando
He fought for our schools
When the budget came up $36 million short for Montgomery County Public Schools, putting hundreds of educator and support jobs at risk, Will moved to close the gap by shifting $36 million from the capital program into school operating funds. His motion passed 7 to 4.
All told, by rejecting the across-the-board property tax increase and funding schools through fairer revenue and targeted savings instead, Will helped prevent roughly $150 million in reductions to Montgomery County Public Schools — protecting the teachers, support staff, and classrooms our kids depend on.
"There are worse options, and among them would be the devastating, catastrophic cuts to MCPS staff and educators." — Will Jawando
As County Executive
Will will govern the way he budgets: with discipline and with fairness.
- He will keep the tax burden on millionaires and billionaires, not working families.
- He will stop handing out massive tax breaks to developers and special interests.
- He will demand the county prove its spending line by line, the same way he just did.
The claim: "Will Jawando voted to raise your property taxes by $692."
The facts: Will's own written budget plan specifically committed to preserving the $692 Income Tax Offset Credit for all 192,000 homeowners who receive it. He proposed closing the entire budget gap without touching it, and he spoke out against eliminating it, warning that "eliminating the ITOC … removes a $692 credit from over 192,000 homeowners without ensuring that a structure is in place to protect our working families and seniors." The council majority rejected his plan and eliminated the credit anyway. When the final, all-or-nothing budget came to a vote, Will chose to protect school funding, county worker contracts, and essential services rather than blow up the entire budget. The plan that would have saved the credit was his. Don't take our word for it: his preservation commitment is in his April 28 memo to the council, which is public.
Sources
- Will Jawando's FY27 alternative budget memo and full itemized list of 81 reductions, published in full by Montgomery Perspective, April 29, 2026. Read the article → Itemized PDF →
- Montgomery County Council official release, May 21, 2026: property tax rate increase rejected; FY27 budget adopted. Read the release →
- Bethesda Magazine, May 15, 2026: Will's $36M school-funding motion passes 7–4; budget excludes the 6.3-cent property tax rate increase. Read the article →
- Bethesda Magazine, May 19, 2026: source of the "catastrophic cuts to MCPS" quote. Read the article →
- Gaithersburg Local News, May 13, 2026: fullest version of the "those who can readily bear the cost" quote. Read the article →
- On the schools figure: the roughly $150 million reflects the scale of reductions Montgomery County Public Schools would have faced without a funding solution to the rejected property tax increase, net of the final adjustments made to the MCPS budget.
The best answer to big money: vote.
Early voting runs June 11–18 at any of the 14 centers. Election Day is Tuesday, June 23.