TAX NEWS - June 2010

Bottle tax fails

A four-cent tax on bottled beverages that could have prevented scores of city workers from losing their jobs was defeated Thursday at an emergency meeting of the Baltimore City Council.

Without the tax — the centerpiece of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's package of new fees and tariffs to help bridge the city's $121 million budget gap — the city plans to scale back street cleaning, graffiti removal and maintenance of vacant properties, among other services.

Supporters hold out the slim hope of resurrecting the measure before June 30, the deadline for officials to settle the city's budget for the coming fiscal year. If a council member who voted against the tax can be persuaded to flip, a new vote could be held as soon as Monday.

In a dramatic session, the 15-member council split 7-7 on the tax, short of the majority needed for passage. Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young recused himself from the vote because, he said, his cousin is a lobbyist for a beverage distributor.

Before the vote, attention focused on the last two council members to declare their positions. The votes of both Councilmen Warren Branch and Carl Stokes were needed for the measure to pass.

Stokes, who had said Wednesday he was leaning against the bottle tax, voted for it on Thursday. But Branch, one of the most reticent members of the legislative body, cast a surprise vote against it.

City Hall observers had expected Branch, a 23-year veteran of the Public Works Department, to back the tariff because it would have saved the jobs of 50 of his former colleagues.

But Branch said that he based his decision on feedback from his constituents, who, he said, called and sent e-mails opposing the tax. About 100 residents told him they opposed the tax, more than three times those who supported it, he said. He was unable to provide the list to a reporter Thursday night.

"If it were up to me, I would have voted for it," said Branch, whose district is home to a large Coca-Cola bottling plant. "But the voice of my constituents spoke."

Supporters of the tax were visibly despondent following Branch's announcement. In an e-mailed statement, Rawlings-Blake called the decision "a win for the wealthy lobbyists against the working people of this City."

Similar measures were defeated in Washington and Philadelphia this year following extensive lobbying from the beverage industry.