What's that smell?
Western Maryland makes an appearance in today's Baltimore Sun, with an article about the tiny hamlet of Luke, Maryland. Luke, once a burgeoning company town made possible by the Westvaco paper mill, is now all but a ghosttown. The article details a number of recent skirmishes between the city and the mill, most notably an effort by the city of Luke to raise Westvaco's taxes by 25%. The mill balked at such an increase, and made it clear that there are a number of labor markets, particularly overseas, that are better than Allegany County, Maryland. Their actions have led to a dwindling tax burden for Westvaco, mostly out of fear that if the city (or county, for that matter) makes the mill even slightly unhappy, it will pull up stakes and move out, probably to Brazil (or so the rumor has gone in ALCO since I've been alive.)

The current crisis surrounds the shrunken tax base coupled with a shrinking population that is forcing Luke to consider unincorporating and surrendering it's charter, becoming yet another tract of unincorporated Allegany County. Westvaco, for their part, has encouraged this action, as it would mean no city taxes, and has gone to such lengths as buying up old homes as Luke residents die.

In reality, Luke's fate is already decided. They will certainly forfeit their charter and Westvaco will eventually move out of town, and probably the country. That is the natural evolution of our economy; an evolution which no amount of public policy initiatives or bond issues is ever likely to reverse.

Tony