For Immediate Release: Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Montgomery Council committees to discuss
proposed U.S. Route 29 BRT
Also on Thursday, May 4: Proposed exemptions
from County fuel-energy tax; FY18 property tax rate
ROCKVILLE, Md., May 3, 2017—The Montgomery County Council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy (GO) Committee and its Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment (T and E) Committee will meet jointly at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 4, to discuss Bill 9-17 that would provide an exemption from the County’s fuel-energy tax for residents who purchase renewable energy even if that energy is not generated from their property.
Current law already exempts from the fuel-energy tax energy that is produced from a renewable source in the County and either used on the site where it is generated or subject to a net energy metering agreement (as defined in State law) with a public utility. However, this exemption only applies to the energy produced from a renewable source, such as solar panels, located on the customer's property or contiguous to the customer's property.
The bill would have an impact of the County’s Fiscal Year 2018 operating budget. The Council is currently reviewing County Executive Ike Leggett’s recommended FY18 operating budget. The Council is scheduled to tentatively approve the budget on May 18 and to formally adopt it on May 25. The budget will go into effect on July 1.
The GO Committee, which is chaired by Councilmember Nancy Navarro and includes Councilmembers Sidney Katz and Hans Riemer, and the T and E Committee, which is chaired by Councilmember Roger Berliner and includes Councilmembers Nancy Floreen and Tom Hucker, will meet in the Third Floor Conference Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville.
The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM). The channel can be viewed on Cable Channels 996 (high definition) and 6 (standard definition) on Comcast; Channels 1056 (HD) and 6 (SD) on RCN; and Channel 30 on Verizon. The session also will be available live via streaming through the Council web site at http://tinyurl.com/z9982v8 .
Bill 9-17 would basically provide an exemption from the fuel-energy tax if the energy is produced at a type of facility located anywhere in the same electric service area.
The bill would permit a County resident who is unable to install solar panels on the customer's property, such as a renter or an owner of a cooperative or condominium, to purchase solar energy from a community solar facility without paying the County fuel-energy tax.
At a public hearing on the bill, Lisa Feldt, director of the County’s Department of Environmental Protection, spoke on behalf of the County Executive in support of the bill. She said it could be a method to promote the use of solar energy and to match the fuel-energy tax exemption available to a resident with solar panels on a residence.
The County’s Office of Management and Budget estimated that, if the legislation is approved, the revenue loss in FY18 would be about $381,000. The estimated revenue loss in FY19 is $763,000 and the estimated loss would be about $953,000 each year beginning in FY20.
Lead sponsor of the legislation is Councilmember George Leventhal. The co-sponsors are Councilmembers Berliner, Hucker, Katz, Navarro, Riemer, Marc Elrich and Craig Rice.
At 9:45 a.m. in the Third Floor Conference Room, the T and E Committee will hold a worksession on the proposed 14-mile-long U.S. Route 29 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line between Burtonsville and the Silver Spring Metro Station.
The County Executive is proposing an FY18 appropriation of $9.5 million and an amendment to the Fiscal Years 2017-22 Capital Improvements Program for $31.5 million to fund the first stage of implementation for the line.
The Executive has proposed to run BRT vehicles on the outside shoulders of U.S. 29 between Burtonsville and Industrial Parkway (except through the Briggs Chaney and Randolph Road interchanges, where they would run in mixed traffic), and in mixed traffic between Industrial Parkway and Silver Spring Metro.
He proposes to use these funds to buy 14 special BRT vehicles, acquire land and to construct 18 high-level platforms with off-board fare collection at 11 station locations, to implement 10 bikeshare stations and other pedestrian and bike access improvements to stations, to install transit system signal priority along U.S. 29 and to fund associated planning and design expenses.
Four Corners resident Sean Emerson testified at a public hearing on the proposed line that the plan could be improved by creating a dedicated BRT lane between New Hampshire Avenue and Sligo Creek Parkway. His proposal relies on reducing the width of the existing general-use lanes to 10 feet (11 feet on the outside curb), leaving 22 feet in the middle for a dedicated 12-foot-wide bus lane (two lanes at Four Comers) as well as an 8-foot-wide median, and a 2-foot-wide painted strip between the BRT lane and the adjacent travel lane. Where there is a station, the 22-foot width would be used for the BRT lane and a one-sided platform. South of Sligo Creek Parkway, the BRT would appropriate one of the four peak direction lanes. North of New Hampshire Avenue, the lanes would either be in the existing median or, similar to the Executive's proposal, on the outside shoulders, where they exist.
This concept would be improved if the BRT buses were to be in a mechanically-guided busway. The buses would be outfitted with guide wheels that would have them run between two curbs.
At 9:45 a.m. in the Seventh Floor Hearing Room, the GO Committee will address property tax options for the FY18 operating budget. The County Executive has recommended a property tax rate of $1.0013 per $100 of taxable value, down from $1.0264 in FYI7. His recommended budget also maintains the current credit of $692. At these levels, property tax revenue would not exceed the so-called “Charter limit.”
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Release ID: 17-155