A Republican-sponsored petition drive intended to require a super-majority of county council votes to increase taxes has failed to collect enough signatures to place the issue before voters in November.

Ken Aldrich, who organized the drive for the local GOP, said his team collected about 5,000 of the 10,000 signatures required to put the measure on the ballot. Monday is the deadline for submitting the names.

"We lose. We're not going to pursue it any more" this year, Aldrich said. The charter amendment, if placed on the ballot and approved by the voters, would have required four of the five county council members to approve any general tax increase instead of the three-vote simple majority now required. The failure is the second time the same issue has failed in six years. Republicans tried it once before in 2004, but came up short.

"We wish we would have won this time," a frustrated Aldrich said. He said Republicans would revive the issue for 2012 if enough GOP council candidates win council seats. Currently, the Howard County executive, Ken Ulman, is a Democrat, as are four of the five county council members.

Senate Minority leader Allan H. Kittleman, a Republican who helped start the drive, tried to put a positive face on the defeat.

"It's very difficult to get signatures," he said, and even harder to recruit enough volunteers to collect them. Howard's Democrats have pointed out that they have balanced four budgets without raising general taxes, and without using the county's rainy day fund.

larry.carson@baltsun.com