For Immediate Release: Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Montgomery Council Committee to
Receive Update on
Mental Health Court
Also on Thursday, September 14: review of energy and environmental design tax credit and financial assistance for homeowners’ association
roadway maintenance
ROCKVILLE, Md., September 13, 2017—The Montgomery County Council’s Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee and Public Safety (PS) Committee will receive an update on the Montgomery County Mental Health Court on Thursday, September 14, at 1:00 p.m. This new court addresses the challenge of the increasing number of people committing minor crimes due to mental illness.
The Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy, and Environment (T&E) and Government Operations and Fiscal Policy (GO) Committees will meet jointly at 9:30 a.m. to review the Energy and Environmental Design Property Tax Credit, which is based on a building achieving specified ratings for energy efficient buildings. The T&E Committee will then meet separately at 10:30 a.m. to review County assistance to homeowners’ associations for road maintenance and off-street parking regulations. The GO Committee also will meet separately at 10:30 a.m. to review the Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO) report on Federal Grant Administration in Montgomery County.
The T&E and GO Committees will meet jointly in the Seventh Floor Council Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The T&E Committee, which is chaired by Council President Berliner and includes Councilmembers Floreen and Hucker, will then meet in the Seventh Floor Council Hearing Room. The GO Committee, which is chaired by Councilmember Navarro and includes Councilmembers Katz and Riemer, will meet in the Third Floor Council Conference Room. The HHS and PS Committees will meet jointly in the Seventh Floor Council Hearing Room.
Intended to provide an alternative to incarceration by steering individuals suffering from mental illness to treatment and community supports, the Montgomery County Mental Health Court (MHC) is the result of a 2015 task force established by Administrative Judge John W. Debelius III. Montgomery County looked to the best practices of similar existing programs to create this new type of court in Baltimore City, Harford County, and Prince George’s County, Md., as well as Washington D.C. The MHC received its first participant in December 2016.
The establishment of the MHC comes in the broader context of steadily increasing numbers of incidents involving mental illness in the County. Between 2011 and 2014, the Montgomery County Police Department saw a 24 percent increase in calls due to mental illness, and a 61 percent increase in the number of people booked into the Central Processing Unit who needed crisis mental health care. In 2014 alone, eight individuals identified as having mental illnesses were arrested a total of 250 times combined. These figures reflect nationwide trends and highlight the need for alternative pathways.
The staff report will be available at:
http://montgomerycountymd.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=169&event_id=7405
In their joint meeting, the HHS and PS Committees also will receive updates on the new Supervised Visitation Center for use in child custody cases, which is funded through the County’s Department of Health and Human Services and will be operated through a contract with a non-profit organization.
The staff report can be viewed at:
http://montgomerycountymd.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=169&event_id=7405&meta_id=142712
The T&E and GO Committees will jointly review the Energy and Environmental Design Tax Credit, or Green Building tax credit, which may be granted against the general County real property tax and special service area taxes. The credit currently varies from 10-75 percent over a period of three to five years, depending upon the Leadership in Environment and Energy Design (LEED) certification level and whether the building has 10,000 feet or more of gross floor area. The review takes place in light of pending legislation that would make the International Green Construction Code the new standard of compliance in the County, and following a second consecutive year in which credit eligible projects exceeded the tax credit caps in the existing law.
Information on the structure of the tax credit can be viewed at:
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/finance/taxes/tax_credit_exempt.html#p19
The T&E Committee will review Bill 22-17, Homeowners’ Associations – Roadway Maintenance – Repeal, which was introduced by Council President Berliner and Councilmembers Floreen and Hucker, with cosponsors Councilmembers Katz, Rice, Navarro, and Elrich and Council Vice President Riemer. The bill would repeal a law providing financial assistance to homeowners’ associations for maintenance of associations’ roads. In the past, the Council limited reimbursement to $1,000 per eligible mile, and in FY10 cut reimbursement to $250. From FY11 to FY18, the reimbursements have been suspended altogether, and Bill 22-17 proposes the elimination of the program.
The staff report can be viewed at:
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/Resources/Files/bill/2017/Packets/20170718_7.pdf
The GO Committee will review the December 2017 OLO Report on the Federal Grant Administration in Montgomery County. The report reviews the processes by which the County makes decisions to pursue federal grants and how grant applications are developed.
The staff report can be viewed at:
http://montgomerycountymd.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=169&event_id=7404&meta_id=142708
The Committee meetings 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 meetings also will be available live via streaming through the Council web site at http://tinyurl.com/z9982v8 .
# # # # Release ID: 17-275