Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Plan aims to improve business competitiveness by reducing raises for county employees.
Montgomery County Councilmember Phil Andrews introduced a plan on Tuesday to reduce the 2010 increase in Montgomery County’s energy tax by 10 percent. The county's energy tax was raised by 155 percent on homeowners and by nearly 60 percent on businesses and nonprofit organizations in 2010, according to a County Council news release. A 10 percent reduction would reduce county revenues by $11.4 million in fiscal 2014, which begins July 1. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg proposes paying for the energy tax reduction by slashing the pay increases for county employees over the next two years. Andrews, who is running for Montgomery County Executive in next year's election, criticized the agreement struck between the county employees unions …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Montgomery County Council Member Phil Andrews proposes a cut in ICC tolls to get more drivers to use the road, NBC Washington reports.
Montgomery County Council Member Phil Andrews says a deep cut in tolls would increase traffic on the Intercounty Connector and he's calling on the state to do it, NBC Washington reported. Andrews says the $8 round-trip rush-hour toll is among the highest in the nation. He would propose "at least a trial period of several months, if not, a year when the tolls would be...cut in half, in hopes of doubling the traffic," according to the report. A decision on the toll rate is up to the Maryland Transportation Authority. A spokeswoman for the MTA told The Washington Post the ICC is meeting both traffic and revenue projections. The road was designed to carry traffic volumes projected for 2030, according to the report. Andrews said he hopes that …
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Former County Executive Doug Duncan met today with pollster and political advisers, according to CenterMaryland.org.
Will Doug Duncan—Montgomery’s longest-serving county executive—return for a run at an unprecedented fourth term? Duncan's political future came into clearer focus Tuesday after he met with advisers in Gaithersburg to mull the 2014 election, Josh Kurtz writes in CenterMaryland.org. The closed meeting hashed over the results of a new poll “that supposedly showed Duncan handily defeating every other potential Democratic candidate,” according to Kurtz. Speculation has long swirled that Duncan—who served as Montgomery’s executive from 1994 to 2006 before a gubernatorial campaign that ended with him dropping out, citing clinical depression—is primed for a return to county politics. If so, he would be joining a field that already has two …
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Officials say the new law complicates enforcement, The Washington Post reported.
New state rules aimed at protecting motorists from predatory towing clash with existing Montgomery County rules, making already complicated regulations even tougher to enforce, The Washington Post reported. Confusion over which rules are more stringent—and therefore should take precedent—has officials unsure how to meet an Oct. 1 deadline for implementing the state rules, The Post reported. The new state rules, in part, require large warning signs in parking lots, limit towing fees and “require wreckers to quickly notify drivers when their vehicles are towed,” The Post reported. But it also would do away with practices such as posting 48-hour warning notices on vehicles violating parking rules. The new state law was the subject of a …
Sunday, June 19, 2011
With so many issues left unresolved, you'd think Montgomery County could do a better job at picking its battles.
Sometimes you just have to wonder about the politics of this place. Our local economy is sputtering again, the housing market is flirting with a double-dip, our transportation system is getting more congested and crumbling around us, and local and state budgets are showing years of red ink ahead. Yet, amid all of these truly important issues, what has prompted the most vigorous response from Montgomery County officials lately? Prohibiting fire and rescue personnel from "passing the boot" to raise money for muscular dystrophy and cracking down on illicit lemonade stands at the U.S. Open. Wow, I sure feel a lot better, how about you? I have always wondered about this "passing the boot" issue. As I understand it, such solicitations are not …
Nadia Biznis
1:51 pm on Thursday, April 11, 2013
Always increasing taxes, always inventing new ones. Witness what is being called the "rain tax" instituted at the hands of wealthy 1%er Martin O'Malley. more ›