Montgomery County lawmakers voted Tuesday to claim oversight of public land sales and leases, overriding County Executive Ike Leggett’s first veto.
The bill gives the legislative body oversight of all sales of county property worth more than $100,000 and all long-term leases, a power currently held exclusively by the county executive. It was inspired partly by an incident several months ago, when Leggett sold the county’s police headquarters to a biotech firm for $3 million — $6 million less than the value the County Council assumed the property was worth. The council had no idea until after the deal was signed.
The bill “creates several new layers of council oversight that have potential to cause delays, uncertainties, and increased costs for county government and private entities that do business with the county,” Leggett wrote in a memo explaining his veto.
In a 6-3 vote, the County Council voted to override Leggett’s veto. Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, D-at large, Councilwoman Valerie Ervin, D-Silver Spring, and Councilman Craig Rice, D-Germantown, voted in favor of letting the veto stand.
