County program rewarding telecommuting approved

It’s a move county leaders hope will spur more employees to work from home, which could help ease traffic congestion because fewer people would be driving into the office each day.

The county council this week approved the new program, which kicks in immediately.

Council Member Howard Denis, who spearheaded the effort, said he thinks the regulation will go a long way in promoting telecommuting.

“It’s important, even more so in view of the horrible weather we’ve had,” Denis said Wednesday. “The traffic congestion impact was one of the prime motivators for me to get involved … but this has a ripple effect.”

For instance, he said, if more employees are working from home, it creates less need for office space. And laboring at home can help employees save money on childcare.

Maryland passed a law four years ago allowing counties to award tax credits for telecommuters, but Montgomery is the first to take advantage of the law, Denis said.

The longtime council member passed a bill through the council last year making the credit possible. This new resolution “hammers out the nuts and bolts,” he said.

For one, it limits companies to an annual credit of $2,000 and permits the county to pay up to 50 percent of the cost of each personal computer bought. Companies also must prove that the employee is using the computer for business purposes at least 1.5 days per week.

Nationwide, telecommuting is catching on in a big way, with 25 million workers taking part. Denis said with this growing trend, it’s crucial that governments “prod people along and incentivize this.”

“You need legislation because a lot of this is counterintuitive to managers,” he said. “It’s hard for some of them to understand that an employee can be getting things done even if they’re not working right in front of them.”

For more information

Call Montgomery County’s Department of Finance, which is administering the tax incentive program, at 240-777-8860.

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