For Immediate Release: Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Montgomery Council Committee to
discuss public financing for candidates
Also on Thursday, June 22: 6-year County fiscal plan projections,
transportation priorities, IG update
ROCKVILLE, Md., June 21, 2017—The Montgomery County Council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy (GO) Committee at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 22, will receive an update on the County’s new program to provide the option of public financing for candidates for County Executive and the County Council.
The GO Committee, which is chaired by Councilmember Nancy Navarro and includes Councilmembers Sidney Katz and Hans Riemer, will meet in the Third Floor Conference Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The meeting will be 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 .
The Department of Finance and the State Board of Elections will address the GO Committee
on the implementation of the new public campaign finance system that will begin with the 2018 election cycle.
The Council enacted the campaign financing program in 2014. Approved Bill 16-14 established the first and only public campaign finance system for County elections in Maryland. The law designates the Maryland State Board of Elections to certify candidates and generally administer the public campaign financing system. The Director of Finance is responsible for establishing a Public Election Fund and distributing the public contributions to certified candidates.
A candidate needs to obtain a specific number of small contributions from County residents of between $5 and $150 to qualify for public funding. Each of these qualifying contributions must be received during the qualifying period.
To qualify for public financing, a candidate for County Executive must collect at least 500 qualifying contributions and an aggregate total of at least $40,000 to qualify. A candidate for at-large Councilmember must collect at least 250 qualifying contributions and an aggregate total of at least $20,000. A candidate for district Councilmember must collect at least 125 qualifying contributions and an aggregate total of at least $10,000.
A candidate who voluntarily accepts a public contribution must pay for all campaign expenses with the qualifying contributions, the matching public contributions and a personal loan from the candidate and the candidate's spouse of no more than $6,000 from each.
Including a $6 million appropriation for Fiscal Year 2018, the Public Campaign Finance Trust Fund has $11 million.
The GO Committee also will address the tax supported fiscal plan for Fiscal Years 2018-23.
Total revenue is projected to increase steadily throughout the six-year period (2.7 percent in FY19, 2.5 percent in both FY20 and FY21 and 3.0 percent in FY22 and F23). Property tax revenue, which is 37 percent of total revenue in FYI 8, is projected to increase at rates between 2.8 percent and 3.3 percent for the remainder of FY18-23. Income tax revenue, which is 32 percent of total revenue in FY18, is projected to increase by 4.2 percent in FY19, 3.7 percent in FY20, 4.0 percent in FY21, 4.7 percent in FY22 and 4.5 percent in FY23.
At 9:30 a.m. in the Seventh Floor Hearing Room, the Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee, which is chaired by Councilmember Roger Berliner and includes Councilmembers Nancy Floreen and Tom Hucker, will discuss the County Department of Transportation’s priority letter for transportation projects that will be sent to the State Department of Transportation. Projects that will remain as priorities from the previous priority letter include:
• WMATA infrastructure maintenance; construction funds.
• Purple Line; construction funds.
• Corridor Cities Transitway; construction funds.
• I-270 widening north of Shady Grove; planning funds.
• I-495 widening west of the I-270 West Spur to Virginia; planning funds.
• Maryland Route 355 BRT; design funds.
• Maryland Route 586 (Veirs Mill Road) BRT; design funds.
• US 29/Tech Road/Industrial Parkway interchange; design and construction funds.
• Maryland Route 97 (Georgia Avenue) in Montgomery Hills: safety and accessibility improvements; design funds.
• Bicycle and Pedestrian Priority Areas; design funds.
Projects that will be added to the updated letter include:
• US 29 north of White Oak: shoulders repairs for BRT use; construction funds.
• US 29 south of White Oak: evaluation of options to manage congestion and improve transit travel time reliability; planning funds.
• Maryland Route 355, Ridge Road to Stringtown Road: widen to four lanes and improve intersections; planning funds.
• Maryland Route 198 (Spencerville Road), Old Columbia Pike to US 29: widen to four lanes; construction funds.
• Maryland Route 28 (Norbeck Road), Georgia Avenue to Wintergate Drive: bicycle/pedestrian improvements; construction funds.
• Bike/pedestrian improvements along several State highways; construction funds.
• Bikeshare program support; capital and operating funds.
• Boyds MARC Station expansion; design and construction funds.
• MARC Brunswick Line off-peak service; planning and operating funds.
• White Flint MARC Station; planning funds.
• C&O Canal National Historic Park, restoration of the towpath and re-watering the canal; grants.
• Off-road park trails, improvements; grants.
• C&O Canal Byway, development of a management plan; planning funds.
At 2 p.m. in the Seventh Floor Hearing Room, the Council’s Audit Committee will receive an update from County Inspector General Edward Blansitt III and the Office of Internal Audit about their respective ongoing activities and reports. The Office of the Inspector General issued seven reports in the past year.
# # # # Release ID: 17-206