County holds public hearing on proposal to form infrastructure funding work group; stakeholders urge clear scope and faster timeline

The Montgomery County Council held a public hearing Feb. 20 on a resolution to create an Infrastructure Funding Work Group to explore options for financing county infrastructure needs.

Ken Hartman, assistant chief administrative officer, testified on behalf of County Executive Marc Elrich and urged the council to focus the group on funding new infrastructure and raising existing standards. “Our priority ought to be on funding new infrastructure and bringing our existing infrastructure up to current standards,” Hartman said, and he offered three recommendations: strike “repairs” from the resolution’s action item to prioritize new and upgraded projects; increase representation for county transportation agencies; and accelerate the timeline so the group can provide budget‑actionable recommendations for fiscal year 2027, targeting a December 2025 conclusion.

Artie Harris, chair of the Montgomery County Planning Board, supported forming the work group and urged the council to explicitly identify infrastructure types to be evaluated. The planning board recommended that the group consider not only schools and transportation but also climate resilience, utility undergrounding, water and sewer, and telecommunications. Harris also recommended hiring an outside facilitator with experience in infrastructure funding and financing.

Lee Kiser, a District 1 resident and former civic association leader, urged clearer public transparency about which projects fall within the work group’s scope. Kiser suggested the group audit the capital budget book’s transportation chapter to ensure consistent project descriptions, district-level breakdowns and equity focus area identification, citing examples from the FY26 budget book.

Glenn Orlin, who has worked on infrastructure funding for decades, recommended a smaller work group (nine to ten members including a facilitator) rather than the larger composition in the draft resolution. Orlin also urged the council to provide the work group with a budget and contractual support for national research and analysis, and he proposed a progress report by March 2026 and a final report by June 2026 if procurement delays occur; he said an accelerated effort could still allow recommendations prior to the FY27 budget adoption.

Council staff and the Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee will take the record and next steps; the transcript records the public hearing and recommendations but does not record a council vote on the resolution during the meeting. The council clerk also announced that the public hearing on Bill 28‑204 (employees’ retirement system and other post‑employment benefits administrative powers and duties) was rescheduled for a later date.