Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett abused his authority when he decided not to give the Board of Elections a petition challenging the county’s authority to increase the energy tax, local activist Robin Ficker argued in a lawsuit filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Ficker submitted 14,500 signatures to put on the November ballot a requirement that the County Council unanimously approve any increase in the energy tax that raises revenue by more than the rate of inflation, a rule that would be nearly identical to one that already exists for the county’s property tax rates.