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Council approves infrastructure funding work group to study impact-tax reform and funding options
Summary
The council adopted a resolution establishing a 12-member infrastructure funding work group to study funding for schools, transportation, and parks and to consider racial equity and housing-policy intersections.
The Montgomery County Council voted to establish an infrastructure funding work group tasked with studying county infrastructure needs and recommending how to generate funding for those needs.
The Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee (GO) recommended approval with amendments. Chair of GO summarized changes to scope, composition, and facilitation: the work group’s scope was made explicit to prioritize schools, transportation, and parks while balancing county policies such as housing, climate resiliency, and economic development; racial equity and social-justice requirements were added to the resolution and required in the final report; and the committee reduced the proposed membership from 14 to 12 to keep the group small enough to be actionable. The committee also removed certain agency representatives (DHCA and DPS) from direct membership but required the work group to consult those agencies and state highway administration (SHA) during outreach.
The GO committee also debated whether to hire an external facilitator; the amended resolution assigns the work-group chair to central council staff (appointed by the council’s executive director) to balance cost, timing and expertise.
Committee members noted public comment and recommended adding one for-profit and one nonprofit developer to the work group. The resolution asks the work group to produce interim and final reports and to append outreach documentation to the final report so the council can review who the work group consulted. The county executive had offered a December timeframe for a final report, but the committee retained the original resolution timeline because it considered the executive’s schedule might have been too short given the work required.
Council members signaled unanimous approval; the chair asked members to raise hands and recorded that everyone present supported the resolution. The resolution will form a council-commissioned study group with specific membership, an explicit definition of infrastructure for study, required racial-equity review questions, and specified outreach obligations to agencies and stakeholders.
