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Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett stepped into the lion's den for the last Town Hall meeting of the year with county residents at the Takoma Park Middle School Nov. 12, when the county budget's delicate balance between higher taxes and funding for services and programs took center stage.

Leggett began the discussion by carefully explaining how the county could be facing up to a $500 million shortfall this year. And, because he has promised not to raise taxes to cover the loss, he explained that funding for county programs and affiliated nonprofits will almost certainly suffer as officials sit down to the tedious task of trimming excess spending.

Leggett spent the majority of the meeting, which lasted from 7:30 p.m. to just after 9 p.m., fielding requests for support from groups like IMPACT Silver Spring, a nonprofit diversity group in the county, along with a substantial showing from Mixed Unity, a student-led group striving to fund youth-planned programs and a space for young people in downtown Silver Spring.

"What could we do to get a space in the civic center [under construction in downtown Silver Spring]?" asked Tiffany Spencer, 20, one of the five Mixed Unity members who addressed the executive throughout the evening.

"A lot of youth come out to downtown Silver Spring, we spend our money here, we hang out on the streets here, and [adults] don't like it," she said. "I feel like, if you give us a space [to use], we wouldn't be out on the streets in your way."

Leggett praised the youth for their interest in local politics and assured them that a shared space for teens in Silver Spring was something he would look into. Mixed Unity also wants the county's support to create a "youth action council" to let young residents help plan their own activities instead of out-of-touch adults.

Lindsay Morris of Silver Spring urged Leggett to support the small businesses in the Takoma/Langley Crossroads. She was concerned that the existing small and culturally diverse businesses would be priced out or lose their consumer base with the altered demographic when the Crossroads is redeveloped following the installation of the planned 16-mile Purple Line mass-transit system.

"We have to insist that we have a plan within that plan that considers those small businesses," Leggett said, opting for a "no-cost" response instead of citing county-funded small-business assistance programs as a solution. "We didn't do that in Silver Spring, and that is something we should have [looked at]."

Near the end of the meeting, Takoma Park resident and barber shop owner Roland Dawes, a former city councilman, gained applause from the audience when he brought up the issue of taxes, recounting a list of the taxes he pays and how they have gradually increased over the years.

"I've never seen nothing like this in my life," Dawes said. "I open my water bill, and it's tax, tax, tax; when I go to the grocery store: tax, tax, tax; I go to the hardware store: tax, tax, tax!"

Summing up the meeting, Leggett offered Dawes' comment as the perfect counterpoint to the request for aid from struggling nonprofits and community interests.

"That's the balance that I have to go through each and every day. ... I can say I will respond to the concerns you just raised here," he said, motioning to the interest groups seated in the audience. "Or I can return to his concerns about the taxes and continue to raise, raise, raise."

Leggett said he would rather implement an ambulance tax to generate up to $15 million for the county. The tax, which was much-debated and voted down by five county council members earlier this year, would charge insurance companies when people are transported to hospitals by county ambulances.

The executive said he remains hopeful that such proposals will remain on the table as an alternative to cutting funding for community programs and county services.