Council Highlights for Tuesday, May 18

As I said last week, we are continuing to make our way through our final budget decisions this week. From our Legislative Information Office, here are the highlights for tomorrow:

The Montgomery County Council on Tuesday, May 18, will continue its discussion on the Fiscal Year 2011 operating budget request of Montgomery County Public Schools. The worksession continues the Council’s examination of County Executive Isiah Leggett’s recommended budget as the Council works to achieve a balanced FY11 budget.

The Council is nearing decisions on most items impacting the new budget, which will go into effect on July 1. The Council is scheduled to reach a tentative agreement on the budget on May 20 and is scheduled to formally adopt the budget on May 27.

The full Council session will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Third Floor Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon) and also will be available via streaming through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov.

The Council’s morning session will include appointment of a new chair of the Montgomery County Planning Board. On May 12, the Council conducted public interviews with four applicants for the position: Francoise Carrier of Rockville; Peter Fosselman of Kensington; Tedi Osias of Chevy Chase; and John Robinson of Kensington. The Planning Board serves as the Council’s principal adviser on land use planning and community planning. Planning Board members also serve as Commissioners of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC).

During the morning session, the Council is scheduled to take action on Bill 16-10 that would limit “imputed compensation.” The bill, whose chief sponsor is Councilmember Phil Andrews, addresses negotiated general wage adjustments with organizations representing employees with County police, fire and general government. The unions agreed to postpone in FY10 previously negotiated general wage adjustments as the Council passed a bill that would calculate the wage increases in an employees’ salary history as if the increases had been given. An actuary has since determined that continuous inclusion of the calculation would require the County to increase its annual contribution to the Employee’s Retirement System Trust Fund by $8.6 million per year over the next 40 years. Bill 16-10 limits inclusion of the calculations only for FY10.

At 1 p.m. Tuesday, the Council’s Education Committee, which is chaired by Valerie Ervin and includes Councilmembers Phil Andrews and Mike Knapp, will discuss the MCPS requested operating budget. As currently proposed, MCPS is the only agency budget that does not include a reduction from the approved FY10 budget. The M-NCPPC budget includes a reduction of 15.8 percent. The County Government includes a reduction of 7.7 percent. The Montgomery College budget includes a 3.7 percent reduction.

At 2:30 p.m., the full Council will discuss the MCPS budget request. As currently requested, the MCPS budget would represent 57.2 percent of the total County budget.

At 1:30 p.m., the Council will hold public hearings on Expedited Bill 29-10, which would create a carbon emissions tax on major emitters of carbon dioxide, and another public hearing on the County Executive’s proposal to double the current tax on cell phone lines.

At 3 p.m., the Management and Fiscal Policy Committee and the Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee will meet jointly to discuss the proposed carbon tax, whose chief sponsor is Councilmember Roger Berliner. The bill would require a major emitter of carbon to pay an excise tax of $5 per ton of carbon. Currently, the only impacted user would be the Mirant Corporation power plant in Dickerson.