March 23, 2011

Recommendations of Organizational Reform Commission to be Reviewed by Montgomery Council

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 21, 2011—The Montgomery County Council on Tuesday, March 22, will hold a worksession on the 28 recommendations made by the Organizational Reform Commission (ORC) that was appointed in 2010. Eight of the recommendations would require Council legislation to implement.

The worksession on the recommendations will be part of the Council’s regular weekly general session beginning at 9:30 a.m. in the Third Floor Conference Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon) and also will be available via streaming through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov. The meeting will be rebroadcast on CCM at 9 p.m. on Friday, March 25.

The ORC was composed of members appointed by the Council and County Executive Isiah Leggett. All members had extensive experience in reform in the government or private sector. The committee issued its report on Jan. 31.

Of the 28 ORC recommendations, four involve bills that are scheduled for public hearings on Tuesday, March 29. Four others (related to collective bargaining) will be introduced later this year. Another focused on the Park Police is scheduled for Council committee review on April 4. The Council will take final action on ORC recommendations during its work over the next two months in preparing the Fiscal Year 2012 operating budget. The budget will be approved in late May and will take effect on July 1.

During the morning session, resolutions will be introduced to set the amount of the property tax credit offset for FY12 and to establish the FY12 Water Quality Protection Charge. In his recommended budget presented to the Council last week, County Executive Leggett included a property tax credit of $692 for owner-occupied principal residences. In the past three years, credits adopted were $613 (FY08), $579 (FY09) and $690 (FY10).

The recommended budget assumes to increase the Water Quality Protection Charge per equivalent resident unit from $49 to $62.

No comments: