Politics & Government
Montgomery County Committee to Review Bill to Ban Double Payments
Bill 23-11 would prohibit developers from receiving payments for a project from more than one government agency. It also would prohibit development districts from imposing taxes that are credited to other county agencies.
A bill that would ban double payments to developers on infrastructure projects is scheduled to get a second look by the Montgomery County Council Monday morning.
The Council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee plans to discuss controversial provisions in the bill during a work session.
Bill 23-11 would prohibit developers from receiving payments for a project from more than one government agency. It also would prohibit development districts from imposing taxes that are credited to other county agencies.
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The most controversial part of the bill says, “A development district must not finance any infrastructure improvement that has been or is likely to be financed by any other government agency, or for which any government agency may issue any credit toward the payment of any tax, fee or charge.”
Patrick Lacefield, Montgomery County’s director of public information, said, “We believe that the ‘likely to be financed’ part of this is way too ambiguous to administer and could have unintended consequence of prohibiting the use of special taxing and development district taxes to pay for state road projects, including those in the White Flint plan. We are willing to work with Council on amended legislation.”
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The bill, introduced by Councilmember Marc Elrich (D-At Large), is intended to halt the kinds of payments that allowed developers of a West Germantown subdivision to collect more than $6 million on a project that cost them about $3 million.
The Council wants to ensure developers do not make windfall profits on the White Flint Sector Plan they approved on March 23, 2010.
The plan would authorize and help finance a new mixed-use real estate project along Rockville Pike. It also would result in new parks and open space in White Flint.
Neil Greenberger, spokesman for the Montgomery County Council, said Bill 23-11 is not an outright ban on the kinds of payments used for the West Germantown subdivision.
“A lot of people have different opinions on it,” Greenberger said. “In the essence, I think this bill tries to clarify what double payments are and tries to ensure they are not double payments.”
The Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee work session on the bill is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday in the Council's Seventh Floor Hearing Room.
