“Ever Feel Like Montgomery County Government Doesn’t Listen?”

By Adam Pagnucco.

That’s the title of the mailer sent out by Council District 1 candidate Meredith Wellington this week, which we reprint below.  The remainder of Wellington’s message is clearly directed at opponents of development, an ancient political tradition in MoCo.  But here is the thing: whether it’s fair or not – and we could make a case either way – pretty much everyone we talk to, regardless of their ideology, doesn’t believe the county adequately listens to them.  That message, distilled of ideological connotation, will travel far and wide.

 

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MD NARAL Endorses Rich Madaleno for Governor

Along with Rep. Jamie Raskin’s (D-8) support, this is the biggest endorsement to date received by the Madaleno campaign.

Choice, access to contraception and women’s health care are big issues, especially in this #metoo election. Additionally, U.S. House Republicans made reducing access to women’s health care services integral to their failed plan to gut the Affordable Care Act. So these issues are more salient than four years ago and MD NARAL’s imprimatur, always nice to have, is more valuable than usual.

Why did NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland endorse Rich Madaleno over his Democratic competitors?

For a start, though women form close to 60% of Democratic primary voters and are a critical constituency for any candidate, County Executives Kevin Kamenetz (D-Baltimore County) and Rushern Baker (D-Prince George’s) surprisingly did not submit questionnaires to MD NARAL.

Four other candidates – Ben Jealous, Alec Ross, Jim Shea, and Krish Vignarajah – were rated 100% by MD NARAL on their questionnaire responses. They will understandably tout this rating as good evidence of their staunch pro-choice and pro-women credentials.

Apparently, MD NARAL chose Madaleno over these four candidates based on his established record of not just supporting MD NARAL’s viewpoint on these questions but having delivered concrete legislative gains on a wide range of issues. As the Madaleno campaign explains in its press release:

Madaleno was the Democrat who protected funding for Planned Parenthood when it was attacked by Republicans in Congress in 2017. He has also co-sponsored a number of laws: to make feminine products available to homeless girls and women; to expand services to victims of sexual assault; and to ensure insurance coverage in Maryland for prescription contraceptive drugs and devices.

The full press release is below.

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The View From 2007

By Adam Pagnucco.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a newish county blogger and professor named David Lublin reached out to a then-young civic activist who had just gotten involved in local politics to write about the county’s economy and budget.  The activist, who had only lived in the county for three and a half years and was already raising Cain about a new Metro entrance in Forest Glen, was still figuring out what was going on but – what the hell – he agreed.  This was the genesis of my second blog post ever, written in April 2007.  (The first was a piece on the Apple Ballot the year before.)

The county’s economic pressures, which have drawn substantial attention on Seventh State, were apparent more than a decade ago.  Then as now, the county was dealing with short-term budget issues.  But over the long term, I wrote that the end of the real estate boom – which would lead to the Great Recession – would result in three choices to balance the budget and preserve county services: large tax hikes, slowing the rate of budget growth or encouraging economic growth to fund the budget.  Many things happened over the ensuing decade: dramatic budget cuts, equally dramatic tax hikes, warfare with the school system and the state over education funding, breaking of union collective bargaining agreements and more.  But in the end, more a result of just muddling through rather than any strategy, the county picked options 1 and 2 – tax hikes and slower budget growth – and not option 3, which was encouragement of economic growth.  Indeed, because our economy has been so stagnant since the recession, we are now discussing pretty much the same things I wrote about eleven years ago.

Will the next decade be different from the last decade?  Folks, that is what this election is about.  It’s all up to you.

Here is the piece from 2007 reprinted.

*****

In Montgomery County local races, four issues regularly rise to the top: education, development, traffic congestion and the environment, in no particular order. In last year’s elections, all four issues were discussed by the candidates – especially development. But this spring a fifth issue has risen to surpass all of them: the county’s difficult choices on the budget. The budget is not only an unavoidable issue because it is central to the functioning of the government – it also affects the ability of county leaders to deal with each of the above four issues that are important to voters.

The county has a short-term problem and a long-term problem with its budget.

The short-term problem appeared in the first budget submitted by our new County Executive. While Ike Leggett’s proposal for $4.1 billion in county spending was 6.3% higher than last year’s budget, the increase was below the prior year’s rate of 9%. Leggett pronounced recent budget growth “unsustainable” and declared that no county agency, including the schools, would get its entire budget request. Despite an aggressive lobbying campaign by public sector unions – especially the Montgomery County Education Association – the County Council seems likely to uphold the broad outlines of the County Executive’s proposal.

Furthermore, Council President Marilyn Praisner has identified a $269 million budget deficit for the fiscal year starting in July 2008. The deficit margin is about 7% – which is close to the increase recommended for this year. The council may very well combine a small tax increase with careful maintenance of core spending to deal with this deficit. This may be enough to avoid modifying the county’s labor contracts with its employees as the Council President has recently discussed.

As serious as the short-term problem is, it does not compare to the county’s budget issues of 1991-92 when it suffered from an economic recession. At that time, 7,000 county employees were furloughed for four days. Public employees occupied the council chambers, teachers engaged in a work slowdown and some public school students walked out of classes to protest potential cuts. No one is predicting similar upheaval this time.

However, the long-term budget problem represents a significant challenge. Since 1990, the county’s population growth has averaged 1.4% per year while its budget has generally grown 5-10% per year. In recent years, the county has managed this by depending on big increases in property tax receipts driven by its real estate boom. That real estate boom has ended and property tax receipts will soon reflect that. The county faces three choices in the long run:

1. Large tax hikes to fund budget increases. The danger here is that those tax hikes may slow the county’s economic growth rate even further, worsening its fiscal problems in the future.

2. Slowing the rate of county budget growth to equal the rate of economic growth. This would mean county budget growth of 1-2% per year. This would be insufficient to meet the standards of service to which residents have become accustomed. School, fire, police and health care costs are all increasing at faster rates even if the size of the relevant county departments remains unchanged. This budget growth rate would also be insufficient to adequately compensate county employees, and that would gradually damage one of the nation’s best-educated, least-turnover-prone local government workforces.

3. Systematically encouraging enough economic growth to fund the county’s budget.

The third option reveals a naked truth that was not commonly discussed during the last campaign: budget policy and development policy are inter-related. Over the long run, limiting economic growth will limit the ability of local government to serve its residents. But as any resident of Phoenix or Las Vegas would observe, economic growth has consequences for quality of life. The question of the last campaign was, “Should we have development or not?” But the real question is, “How can we have enough economic growth to pay for government services we need without driving existing residents crazy?”

Economic growth comes from two sources: population growth and job creation. If one of these occurs without the other, or if they occur in different geographic locations, the result is traffic congestion. The two should occur together, at similar rates, and in nearby locations. This has direct implications for county development policy.

In general, the county has three kinds of developable areas: the agricultural reserve, the four downtowns (Bethesda, Rockville, Silver Spring and Wheaton), and the rest of the county. Most residents agree that the agricultural reserve should continue to be protected for cultural and environmental reasons. That leaves the other two areas for consideration.

The four downtowns are unique assets in the county because they each have residential density, concentrated office space and pedestrian-oriented retail space all within walking distance of each other. A resident of Bethesda’s central business district (CBD) who also works in the CBD does not have to use his or her car every day. That individual can walk to work and walk to the grocery store on the way home. The fact that all of the amenities of life are concentrated in a walkable radius cuts back on car use, which cuts down on energy usage, greenhouse gases and pollution. It also reduces the need for road maintenance.

But many residents may want to live in one CBD and work in another. This means that the CBDs should be connected, preferably through transit. Bethesda is connected to Rockville, and Silver Spring is connected to Wheaton through Metro’s Red Line. Bethesda could be connected to Silver Spring through the Purple Line. And a bus rapid transit route from Wheaton to Rockville is the county’s top transit study request of the state government. If both of those projects go through, the county will have four inter-connected downtowns.

How could the county encourage economic growth in downtowns rather than sprawl in non-transit-accessible suburbs? In the downtowns, the county could use zoning text amendments (or more ambitiously, coordinated and complementary updates to master plans) to encourage transit-oriented CBD growth. In non-CBD areas, project area transportation reviews and robust school capacity tests would limit development outside the downtowns. This combination of measures would channel economic growth to the CBDs while minimizing the consequences of traffic congestion and pollution. The side effect would be to encourage the creation of downtown entertainment districts, each customized to reflect the unique cultural identities of each CBD.

For those who are uneasy about growth in downtowns, keep in mind the other two budget options: large tax hikes or gradually deteriorating government services. No local area in this country – even Montgomery County – is immune to the negative long-run effects of either (or both).

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MCEA Endorses Council Incumbents

By Adam Pagnucco.

The Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), which represents MCPS teachers, has endorsed four County Council Members running for reelection: Craig Rice (District 2), Nancy Navarro (District 4), Tom Hucker (District 5) and Hans Riemer (At-Large).  The only Council Member running for reelection this year who has not been endorsed by MCEA is Sidney Katz (District 3).  The union has previously endorsed Katz’s opponent, Ben Shnider.

Also, MCEA has not endorsed in the County Executive race and may ultimately not do so.  That would echo the 2006 Executive primary, when neither Ike Leggett nor Steve Silverman could reach the union’s 58% threshold for support in its Representative Assembly.

We reprint MCEA’s press release below.

*****

For Immediate Release:

May 3, 2018

Contact:  Nikki Woodward

Anzer.woodward@gmail.com

MONTGOMERY COUNTY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES NEW COUNTY ENDORSEMENTS

The Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), which represents more than 14,000 classroom teachers, guidance counselors, speech pathologists, media specialists, and other non-supervisory certified educators in the Montgomery County Public Schools system, has endorsed several candidates for elected office in Montgomery County.  Endorsed candidates will appear on MCEA’s “Apple Ballot” for the 2018 primary and general elections.

COUNTY COUNCIL AT LARGE:

Hans Riemer (new), Brandy Brooks, Chris Wilhelm, Will Jawando

COUNTY COUNCIL (DISTRICT):

District 1: Ana Sol Gutierrez

District 2: Craig Rice (new)

District 3: Ben Shnider

District 4: Nancy Navarro (new)

District 5 Tom Hucker (new)

BOARD OF EDUCATION AT LARGE:

Karla Silvestre

BOARD OF EDUCATION (DISTRICT):

District 1:  Dr. Judith (Judy) Docca

District 2:  Patricia (Pat) O’Neill

District 5:  Brenda Wolf

MCEA has not yet endorsed a candidate for County Executive for the June primary.

-30-30-30-

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SEIU Local 32BJ Endorses in Maryland Races

By Adam Pagnucco.

SEIU Local 32BJ, a gigantic building services union stretching from New England to Florida, has announced endorsements in Maryland races.  The local is not to be confused with SEIU Local 500, which organizes MCPS support staff, adjunct faculty and child care workers, but the two locals share many progressive views and are both powerhouses.  We reprint 32BJ’s press release below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Thursday May 3, 2018

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Julie Karant: jkarant@seiu32bj.org

UNION REPRESENTING 18,000 WORKERS IN MARYLAND AND D.C. AREA ENDORSES MARYLAND STATE & COUNTY CANDIDATES

Silver Spring, MD – Commercial office cleaners and private security officers from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 32BJ today announced their endorsements in races for Maryland State Senate and Delegate as well as Prince George’s and Montgomery County Council. “These candidates are dedicated to improving life for Maryland’s immigrant and minority communities,” said 32BJ SEIU Vice President Jaime Contreras. “They also understand that low-wage workers need and deserve a $15 minimum wage to support their families.”

MD Statewide

Ben Jealous

Governor

Brian Frosh

Attorney General

MD Senate

Craig Zucker

MD State Senate District 14

Jeff Waldstreicher

MD State Senate District 18

Will Smith

MD State Senate District 20

Jim Rosapepe

MD State Senate District 21

Paul Pinsky

MD State Senate District 22

Joanne Benson

MD State Senate District 24

Angela Angel

MD State Senate District 25

Jamila Woods

MD State Senate District 26

Antonio Hayes

MD State Senate District 40

Alethia McCaskill

MD State Senate District 44

Mary Washington

MD State Senate District 43

Cory McCray

MD State Senate District 45

Bill Ferguson

MD State Senate District 46

MD House

Anne Kaiser

MD State Delegate District 14

Eric Luedtke

MD State Delegate District 14

Pamela Queen

MD State Delegate District 14

Ariana Kelly

MD State Delegate District 16

Emily Shetty

MD State Delegate District 18

Jared Solomon

MD State Delegate District 18

Bonnie Cullison

MD State Delegate District 19

Marlin Jenkins

MD State Delegate District 19

Marice Morales

MD State Delegate District 19

David Moon

MD State Delegate District 20

Jheanelle Wilkins

MD State Delegate District 20

Darian Unger

MD State Delegate District 20

Jocelyn Pena Melnick

MD State Delegate District 21

Matt Dernoga

MD State Delegate District 21

Mary Lehman

MD State Delegate District 21

Alonzo Washington

MD State Delegate District 22

Erek Barron

MD State Delegate District 24

Jazz Lewis

MD State Delegate District 24

Dereck Davis

MD State Delegate District 25

Wala Blegay

MD State Delegate District 25

David Sloan

MD State Delegate District 26

Veronica Turner

MD State Delegate District 26

Gabriel Acevero

MD State Delegate District 39

Terrell Boston Smith

MD State Delegate District 40

Melissa Wells

MD State Delegate District 40

Nick Mosby

MD State Delegate District 40

Maggie Mcintosh

MD State Delegate District 43

Cheryl Glenn

MD State Delegate District 45

Luke Clippinger

MD State Delegate District 46

Brooke Lierman

MD State Delegate District 46

Robbyn Lewis

MD State Delegate District 46

Wanika Fisher

MD State Delegate District 47B

Jimmy Tarlau

MD State Delegate District 47A

Julian Ivey

MD State Delegate District 47A

Montgomery County

Marc Elrich

County Executive

Craig Rice

County Council District 2

Ben Shnider

County Council District 3

Nancy Navarro

County Council District 4

Tom Hucker

County Council District 5

Hans Riemer

County Council At-Large

Will Jawando

County Council At-Large

Brandy Brooks

County Council At-Large

Gabe Albornoz

County Council At-Large

PG County

Donna Edwards

County Executive

Victor Ramirez

States Attorney

Tom Dernoga

County Council District 1

Deni Taveras

County Council District 2

Jolene Ivey

County Council District 5

Krystal Oriadha

County Council District 7

Gerron Levi

County Council At-Large

Karen Toles

County Council At-Large

With more than 163,000 members in 11 states, including 18,000 in the D.C. Metropolitan Area and throughout Maryland, 32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country.

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The Future of Montgomery County’s Economy

Today, I am pleased to present a guest blog by Kevin Kamenetz.

Montgomery County’s role as an economic engine for Maryland is in danger. The recent Sage Consulting report indicates that the county’s private sector employment has declined, job growth has all but stopped, and a precipitous decline in the number of new businesses created in the county suggests that the worst may yet to come.

Despite these challenges, it is critical to acknowledge, as others have, that Montgomery County remains a strongly managed jurisdiction that has been able to maintain a triple-A bond rating from all three major rating agencies. And according to state and federal averages, the unemployment rate in Montgomery remains lower than both the state and federal data. These figures are important indicators of general economic health, but the warning signs presented by this new report cannot be ignored.

We must work together to build upon the county’s strong foundation, and reframe Maryland’s role in economic development, if we are serious about reversing such troubling trends.

Montgomery County has already accomplished so much with Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and communities with multi-model transportation options for its residents. As the Baltimore County Executive, I have long-admired Montgomery County’s progress here, and have attempted to emulate much of that success, attracting more than $5 billion in private investment and developing the Baltimore region’s first TODs. We also created Greenleigh, a Traditional Neighborhood Design project patterned after Kentlands. And my successful effort to lure $1 billion in private investment in downtown Towson caused one outlet to suggest I have “Bethesda envy.” In many ways I do.

What I have recognized, and what Montgomery County already knows, is the value of promoting projects like these will get residents out of their cars and into town centers for ease and convenience. This is how we will rebuild our older shopping centers and strip malls into the vibrant places where people want to work and live.

Much like Montgomery County, Baltimore County has also been able achieve the coveted “triple AAA” bond rating. In fact, we are two of only 46 counties across the country to do so.

Moreover, we have also dealt with many of the same issues that Montgomery County now faces. When confronted with an aging population, stagnant job growth, and the threat of private sector migration, we took a unique approach. We doubled-down on our own assets to attract new jobs, while focusing on employer needs to build a job-ready workforce.

Following the end of a century of steelmaking, I led the largest industrial redevelopment on the East Coast at Tradepoint Atlantic, which is now attracting “millennial-bait” companies such as Under Armour, Fed Ex and Amazon, as well as other port-related activity. Today, there are more people working at Sparrows Point than when the former Bethlehem Steel mill closed in 2012. These businesses are projected to add 17,000 new jobs when the global logistics hub is fully developed in the next five years.

Meanwhile, we opened a two-way dialogue with our existing employers and launched Job Connector, an innovative $2.5 million program that partners with companies, labor trades, schools and colleges to build a job-ready workforce. This employer-driven supply-and-demand strategy not only helps us keep our unemployment rate low, but it gives us a competitive advantage to retain key employers — and jobs they create — here in the state.

Together these approaches to economic development are transforming job prospects and economic opportunity for the entire region.

This progress has been bolstered by efforts to strengthen the foundation of any economy: a thriving educational system. Through Baltimore County’s unprecedented $1.3 billion program to build or rebuild 90 schools, as well as introduction of a Community College Promise program that will offer a debt-free education to qualified students, we are making the long-term investments to prepare a new generation for a 21st century workforce.

The kicker? We have accomplished all of this without ever once raising the property tax or income tax rates during my 8 years and Executive and 16 years as Councilman. In short, we’ve shown that we can be economically bold, while also being fiscally prudent.

Every one of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions — including Montgomery and Baltimore Counties, and especially the independent jurisdiction of Baltimore City, face new and evolving challenges. Montgomery County cannot and should not be expected to face these challenges alone.  That is why Valerie Ervin and I want to work together as your next Governor and Lt. Governor to build upon these successes for the entire state of Maryland.

Together we can ensure that Montgomery County remains one of our state’s key economic drivers for generations to come.

Kevin Kamenetz is the Baltimore County Executive and a Democratic candidate for governor.

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John Delaney Endorses Gabe Albornoz

John Delaney has now taken a break from the House and traipsing around Iowa to endorse two people for at-large county council seats. Besides Bill Conway, he has also endorsed Gabe Albornoz, a candidate with local roots who has been Director of the County Recreation Department for over a decade:

I am proud to endorse Gabe Albornoz for Montgomery County Council At-Large,” Cong. Delaney said. “Through his leadership as the Director of the Department of Recreation for the past decade—he has created programs to engage seniors in activities, increase health fitness for residents, and to help close the opportunity gap among our children and youth. Gabe’s commitment to our community proves that he is the type of leader that Montgomery County needs on the County Council.

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Riemer Exacerbates Economic Growth Concerns

Andrew Metcalf over at Bethesda Beat reported on Council Chair Hans Riemer’s response to a question on the successes of the two-year old county economic development nonprofit:

“OK, so what are the successes of the Economic Development Corp.?” Riemer said. “Um, I might need a little staff here. My economic development team is not here.”

After a brief pause, he continued, “They are a new organization, they are growing. They have helped us build consensus around economic development. They have helped engage the business community in a positive way. I think they have improved the dialogue.”

Riemer’s inability to come up with an answer only continues the building narrative that the county government is not doing enough to promote economic growth or address fiscal concerns. His flub also undercut his claim that the Sage report cherry-picked its data and the claims are politically motivated:

“In comes this attempt to overturn the apple cart and get everyone shooting at us again,” Riemer said.

Consider the cart not just overturned but run over by a truck.

Is Riemer in Danger? Probably Not

Despite hiccups likes these that can accompany that spotlight on the Council Chair and a wealth of candidates,  Riemer looks to be on a solid path to a third term. He’s the only at-large member seeking reelection. After two terms, he has high recognition, which should be enormously helpful in a large county with so many candidates trying to get the electorate’s attention.

It also helps that most people, supporters or not, would agree that Hans is a nice guy. He has a deserved reputation for being willing to listen to a variety of viewpoints and responding respectfully. Naturally, decisions he has made leave some unhappy, but at least they feel heard.

In short, while his time as council chair has had its rough spots, it’s hard to see how Hans loses. No one is really pointing at Hans in way that could focus any anti-incumbency mood. There is little incentive to attack rivals in a multi-candidate race. Many Democrats are also far more angry at Republicans.

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Placeholders, Indeed, Do Have a Place in the MCPS Capital Budget

By Glenn Orlin.

In a recent piece in Seventh State it was argued that so-called “placeholder” projects have no place in the Montgomery County Public Schools capital program. But there are very good reasons why the County Council has done exactly that for the past eight years.

First, some background.  The Subdivision Staging Policy (SSP) Public School Adequacy Test compares enrollment five years in advance—at each cluster and level (HS, MS, or ES), and at each school—against the budgeted capacity at each cluster/level and school five school years hence.  If the future enrollment exceeds the future capacity in a cluster by more than 20% at any level, then the cluster goes into a housing moratorium; that is, no more housing subdivisions can be approved until the capacity standard is met.  (Relocatable classrooms are not counted towards “capacity” under the School Adequacy Test.) If the future enrollment exceeds the future capacity in a MS service area by more than 20% and 180 students, then that MS service area goes into a housing moratorium.  If the future enrollment exceeds the future capacity in an ES service area by more than 20% and 110 students, then that ES service area goes into a housing moratorium.  The five-year rule was selected many years ago because, on average, that is how long it takes for a housing subdivision approval to morph into occupied housing units, many of them having kids of school age.

At the start of this decade the Council began the practice of budgeting generic “Solution” (i.e., placeholder) CIP projects in certain circumstances.  The rationale is that while a cluster or school service area might have enrollment that exceeds the moratorium threshold, in many cases MCPS is concurrently planning for a new school or addition that would provide sufficient capacity in time to avoid such a moratorium.  The Council has approved Solution projects only when all the following conditions are met:

  1. A cluster or school service area is projected to exceed the moratorium threshold;
  2. MCPS is concurrently—or about to start—planning for a capital project that would address the potential moratorium; and
  3. MCPS’s normal schedule for planning, design, and construction would have the project’s added capacity opening by the start of the school year five years hence.

The most recent application of the School Test was approved by the Planning Board on June 22, 2017.  The Board placed seven ES service areas into moratorium: Burnt Mills, Highland View, Kemp Mill, Lake Seneca, Rosemont, Strawberry Knoll, and Summit Hall.  At that time, while all of them met Condition #1, none of them met Conditions #2 and #3.  Eight other clusters or school service areas were not placed into moratorium because Solution projects were justifiable and programmed: they met all three conditions.  In the FY19-24 CIP several of these Solution projects will be replaced by specific projects that the Board of Education (BOE) is now officially ready to recommend.  This new CIP will include only four Solution projects.

It is important to note that the decision to budget a Solution project for a school has nothing to do with whether there are new housing applications in that area awaiting the Planning Board’s approval.  Condition #1 occurs either when projected enrollment growth due to turnover, already approved new housing, or both, will be over the capacity threshold.  Whether there are impending housing development applications simply doesn’t matter in the decision to budget a Solution project or not.  Now let’s turn to the examples raised in the earlier Seventh State piece.

Bethesda ES and Somerset ES.  The service areas for both schools in the B-CC Cluster are projected to be well over capacity (+25% and +27%, respectively) in five years, that is, by the start of the 2023-24 school year.  MCPS is initiating an elementary school capacity study for the B-CC Cluster, which would examine a range of options.  The study will be conducted during the 2018-2019 school year.  The Board of Education (BOE) will then be in position to propose a specific project in its FY21-26 CIP request; if that project’s funding were to begin in FY21, then, following the normal schedule for planning, design, and construction it could open at the start of the 2023-24 school year.  Because all three conditions are met—a projected moratorium, planning about to begin, and a path to project completion in five years—the Council is poised to fund Solution projects for Bethesda ES and Somerset ES.  The total amount to be budgeted for these two Solution projects is about $6.4 million.  When a specific project is ready to be budgeted, this $6.4 million will be used to help fund it.

Judith A. Resnik ES.  The current CIP has a fully funded addition at this Magruder Cluster school (which would bring its capacity up to 740), but the BOE deleted the construction funding in its request for the FY19-24 CIP.  Enrollment is trending downward, although in five years it is still projected to exceed the moratorium standard if there is no addition.  The BOE is continuing planning for an addition, however.  So, since all three of the above conditions are met, the Council is planning to fund a $2.7 million Solution project for Resnik ES.

The fourth Solution project is about $6.3 million for Einstein HS, which the Council had already initiated, and the BOE itself has recommended continuing it. Therefore, the sum of the four Solution projects is about $15.4 million.  All but $3.7 million would be programmed in the last three years of the CIP (FYs22-24).

Burnt Mills ES.  This school is projected to be 47% over capacity in 2023-24, so certainly Condition #1 is met.  However, MCPS is requesting the Council to set aside in the CIP $120 million (talk about your placeholders!) while it undertakes a thorough review of the prior revitalization/expansion program “in order to develop a multi-variable approach to determine the priority order of large-scale renovations, possibly including programmatic and capacity considerations” (Superintendent’s FY19 CIP Request, page 1-2).  Therefore, the Burnt Mills situation meets neither Condition #2 nor #3.  Once the BOE has determined a strategy for this school, its improvement would either be partially funded as a Solution project or fully funded from the outset.

Ashburton ES.  If the argument is being made that Solution projects are budgeted to meet the desires of new development, then consider the case of Ashburton in the Walter Johnson Cluster.  It is projected to be more than 22% over capacity five years from now, meeting Condition #1.  Just last fall the Council approved the Rock Spring Master Plan which allows for at least 2,300 more housing units than exists or is already approved.  Almost all the Rock Spring area is within the Ashburton ES service area.  Nevertheless, since MCPS is not undertaking planning for additional capacity that would further relieve Ashburton, its service area will go into a housing moratorium in July.

E. Brooke Lee MS Addition. When the Council approves the CIP, it assures that there is enough money to pay for the projects it is budgeting in each of the CIP’s six years.  The Council is approving a tighter CIP this year than in the past, because it recognizes that debt service on borrowing has grown too high.  (Debt service is an obligation that must be paid before anything else in the budget, including salaries.)  Earlier this year the Council asked for the Superintendent to provide it with a list of “non-recommended” projects that would be the first choices to be reduced or deferred, should the Council need them to meet the spending limits.

One of the projects on his list was to delay the construction funding for Lee MS by one year, although not to delay the first-year (FY19) design funds, which would allow the opportunity for the project to be reaccelerated next year.  In its worksession on April 17, several members of the Council expressed the desire to delay neither the design nor the construction funds for the Lee MS project.  To accommodate this desire, there is a shortfall of $8 million in FY20 and $9.5 million in FY21 for which funds must be found.  We will do our best to do that, but deleting the Solution projects would contribute nearly nothing to this effort; there is only $169,000 in Solution project funds in FY20, and only $3.6 million in FY21; the remaining $11.7 million is in FY22 and later.

Do Solution projects almost never get done in five years, as the Seventh State article claims?  In fact, almost every project does get done within five years, or, the BOE later decides that the project isn’t needed after all.   In the article, it is stated that most of the Solution projects added in FY15 did not translate into actual projects within five years, which would have been the 2019-2020 school year.  For FY15 the Council added Solution projects for five Downcounty Consortium elementary schools: Brookhaven, Glen Haven, Highland, Kemp Mill, and Sargent Shriver.  Two years later, however, the BOE retracted its request for these projects, noting that the projected seat deficits were no longer high enough for it to request funds for additions there (see the FY17 Educational Facilities Master Plan, pages 4-37 through 4-41).

Is “real money” being taken out of the MCPS for Solution projects?  In a word, no.  The Council never budgets all the money it could in the CIP.  This is because the Council needs to reserve funds for: (1) when construction bids come in over estimates; (2) for when projects that are in the planning stage are ready for construction funding later in the CIP period; and (3) for unanticipated opportunities or emergencies that arise.  For these reasons, the Council this year will probably set aside a capital reserve of about 9% of the funds available for budgeting, as has been recommended by the County Executive.  But, after all, a Solution project is but a designated reserve, so the Council—as it has in the past—will likely set an undesignated capital reserve less than the Executive recommended by the $15.4 million in these Solution projects.  Therefore, the Solution projects do not compete with other projects in the MCPS CIP, nor with those in the County Government, Montgomery College, or Park & Planning CIPs.  If anything, the Solution projects provide a first claim on the capital reserve.

In summary, Solution projects in the CIP in no way compete with other projects, and they avoid housing moratoria in certain situations where they are not warranted.

Glenn Orlin is the Deputy Director of the Office of the County Council.  He has been the Council’s CIP Coordinator for the last 26 years.

 

 

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Town of Chevy Chase Election Results

The Town of Chevy Chase held its municipal elections today for three of the five seats on the Town Council. There were two open seats as Mayor Mary Flynn and former Mayor Scott Fosler decided not to run for reelection.

Barney Rush (i) 566
Kirk Renaud: 552
Wicca Davidson: 493
Fred Cecere: 349
Deborah Vollmer: 66

Fred Cecere’s decision to run made the election more interesting because he was the candidate elected to a term in the 2015 stealth write-in campaign. Confusing “not illegal” with “right,” only people in his support group were alerted to his decision to run and they were told to keep it secret. Another example of the decay of democratic norms even in a small town.

Fred stepped down reluctantly after a term, as he had promised to serve only one term. After a year, however, he decided to run again, this time openly. In a good example of how breaking norms results in new laws to get people to adhere to what were formerly common sense values, the Town now requires write-in candidates to register with the Town before the election.

Running in her umpteenth election, Deborah Vollmer is best known in the Town for her seemingly endless failed lawsuits against her neighbors. (Disclosure: I was mayor of the Town at the time and Deborah also sued the Town unsuccessfully to try and overturn the permit.)

More recently, Deborah has gotten press for refusing to pay the monthly fee that Pepco charges if you didn’t let them replace your old meter with a smart meter. Though the fees have piled up, I don’t think her lights have been turned off yet.

Instead of Fred and Deborah, the Town reelected Barney Rush, who is tipped to be the next mayor. Joining him will be new councilmembers Kirk Renaud and Wicca Davidson. Kirk has been active on the town’s committee on climate change, while Wicca has chaired the committee on community relations. Continuing with them will be Cecily Baskir and Joel Rubin, who is currently seeking election to the House of Delegates as a Democrat,.

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Maryland Politics Watch