Advisory panels cost county $1m annually Members of the Montgomery County Council are looking to slash many of the 86 volunteer advisory boards costing taxpayers nearly $1 million to administer.
Councilman George Leventhal, D-at large, plans to introduce a bill Tuesday that would eliminate some of the volunteer boards, committees and commissions and give others until Dec. 1, 2012, to prove that they are necessary. After a year, the county’s Committee Evaluation and Review Board would return to the council with recommendations about which organizations are useful and which the county could do without.
The county currently spends $1.4 million on administration costs, such as paying for staff representatives to attend meetings, for its 86 boards, committees and commissions, according to data from Chief Administrative Officer Tim Firestine. Though some of those organizations are required by county, state or federal law, the vast majority of the costs — $939,292 — are generated by those not required by law.
“I have believed for some time that we do get good input from many of these boards and commissions, but I think we need to review how much value is added for the cost,” Leventhal said.
He explained that his bill aims to reduce duplication. For example, it immediately eliminates the recreation advisory boards and consolidates their duties within those of the County Recreation Board, which has a similar purpose, he said.
But Down-County Recreational Advisory Board Chairwoman Jerilyn Ray-Shelley, who also sits on the County Recreation Board, said eliminating her group would create a disconnect between citizens and their government.
“The voice of the people comes from the communities, the neighborhoods,” she said. “Once you start losing that voice you really lose the essence of the community.”
Councilman Craig Rice, D-Germantown, suggested that the council should not decide which groups are eliminated, but rather should let the review board make recommendations.
He is proposing a bill, which probably will be introduced next week, that cuts off all advisory boards, committees and commissions, effective March 1, 2013, rather than eliminating some immediately.
The groups would be required to submit work plans to the review board, which would submit recommendations to the council regarding which should continue past March 2013. Rice said he expects the review board to recommend many of the groups.
But Susan Heltemes, who recommended eliminating many of the boards, committees and commissions as head of the Organizational Reform Commission’s working group on the subject, said both bills might be going too far.
“There is a place for community input,” she said. “I would hate for that to all go by the wayside in a zeal to get rid of all boards, committees and commissions.”
