County attorney previews 10 proposed state legislative requests for board consideration

County Attorney John Norris presented a slate of ten proposed state legislative requests the board could send to the county’s delegation. The items ranged from routine (update public local laws to reflect Calvert Health’s current name) to substantive policy proposals that would require enabling legislation in Annapolis.

Proposals included authority to adopt a local transfer tax on written instruments, expanded asset-management contract authority (longer-term contracts for water-tower management), authority to extend tax credits for preserved tobacco barns, a dedicated emergency-services allocation mechanism that earmarks a portion of property tax for first-response organizations, and nuisance/property tools to allow injunctions or other pre-emptive remedies for recurring disruptive events on private property. The county attorney said the nuisance tool is intended to address commercial-style or repeatedly advertised events that the current post-hoc enforcement tools do not stop.

Also on the list were a request for cloud-computing pilot (PILOT) authority so the county can offer long-term payment agreements for data centers without inflating wealth-formula counts, and optional revenue mechanisms (telecommunications or excise taxes) to target education funding pressures such as those created by the state 'Blueprint' funding changes. A proposal on commissioner elections—shifting some seats to district elections and adding term limits—drew discussion; several commissioners suggested bringing a referendum option to voters rather than asking the Legislature to impose a structure.

The board agreed to forward the package to the delegation and to allow public comment at the evening delegation session; staff will circulate draft bill text after bill drafting and follow up with legislators.