The Montgomery County Council has moved closer to preventing double payments to county developers. The council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee on Monday voted unanimously to move forward with a bill that forbids development or special taxing districts to foot the bill for infrastructure projects that are eligible to receive funding from other sources.
Introduced last month, the bill was inspired by an incident last year, first reported by The Washington Examiner, in which the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission paid $2 million for a wastewater pump in the West Germantown Development District after the county had paid $3.7 million. As a result, developers were reimbursed for more than they spent.
| Also in Montgomery County |
| » Two bills aimed at changing the collective bargaining process for county employees were rejected by the Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee. |
| One bill would require the council to hold a public hearing on collective bargaining agreements and require the union and the county executive to announce their initial positions on major economic provisions of a contract. The second bill would create an impasse arbitration panel made up of a neutral arbitrator and representatives from the union and the county executive’s office. |
| » The application process for state BRAC funding will be announced as early as Tuesday, Rep. Chris Van Hollen told the County Council. |
| Van Hollen said he was confident that the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda would qualify: “This was designed to address exactly the situation that we face in Bethesda,” he said. |
| » Several County Council members announced plans to establish “best practice” guidelines for Pepco to follow in the utility’s countywide tree trimming. |
A 2007 report by the county Office of Legislative Oversight also found that a Clarksburg Town Center developer had asked both the county and WSSC for funding for a water pipe.
Although Council Staff Attorney Michael Faden noted that there was debate as to whether the double payments had violated policy, he emphasized that the goal is to prevent it from happening in the future.
“We now understand these issues a lot better,” he said. “Part of the cause was that the left hand didn’t know quite what the right hand was doing.”
Following the urging of representatives of the White Flint Partnership, Montgomery County Planning Board and Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce, Faden proposed inserting an “escape clause” into the bill to allow for exceptions to the law that the council approves. The groups were concerned that the bill would prohibit them from contributing funds to any infrastructure improvements.
However, the committee asked Faden to rework the language to prevent unwanted exceptions.
“I can’t picture when I’d allow a double payment,” said Councilman Marc Elrich, D-at large, one of the bill’s sponsors. “You shouldn’t be reimbursed twice.”
The updated bill most likely will return to committee and be voted on by the council in the fall.
