A bill that its co-sponsors said was designed to do scant more than correct old Montgomery County geographic boundaries finally has made its way to Annapolis, after a surprising amount of debate locally.
Now dubbed House Bill 723, the legislation deals with the boundary issue when it comes to the question of payment of municipal recreation taxes, which county residents pay annually for upkeep of the county’s 400-plus recreation facilities. A law passed in 1965 exempted residents living in independent county jurisdictions such as Rockville and Gaithersburg from the fee.
A hearing for H.B. 723 was scheduled for Tuesday before the House Economic Matters Committee.
But the “convoluted” part of the bill is that “instead of simply speaking about the city, it defines the boundaries as they existed then,” Del. Luiz Simmons, D-District 17, said.
Simmons and two other delegates crafted the new bill to update this definition to include expanded parts of the jurisdictions annexed in later years.
“We’re just trying to restore the status quo,” he told The Examiner on Monday. “It does not preclude the county and cities from negotiating a different approach to how they handle the tax.”
What the bill has done, though, has ignited a small firestorm and expanded the discussion into a back and forth about who should pay for county parks.
Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning has been extremely critical of H.B. 732 because it supports — temporarily — a dichotomy. Planning spokeswoman Nancy Lineman has told The Examiner her agency’s perspective is that all county residents, whether they live in a municipality or not, have access to Montgomery County recreation facilities and should pay the district tax, which generally comes to a few hundred dollars per household per year.
Simmons said he is undecided on whether Rockville and Gaithersburg should be exempted and that by passing his bill, an informed and fairer discussion can begin on the topic.
