The City has published it’s Legislative Priorities for the 2007 session of the Maryland General Assembly. These are the things that, given their druthers, the City would have the legislature pass in the upcoming session. Key issues in here are:

  • Yet more money for the Lakelands aquatic center
  • More funding for the City police
  • Funding for major transportation projects, specifically the CCT and the Watkins Mill Interchange
  • Taxing authority issues: Exemption from the Metropolitan District Tax, authority to levy additional Hotel/Motel and Development Excise taxes
  • Authority for a municipalities to be opt-out electrical aggregators. On the Takoma Park website, I found a PDF document from 2005 discussing this issue in detail. A couple of quotes from this document will go a long way toward explaining what they want to do:

    What is electricity deregulation?
    Generally, electricity deregulation refers to a state deciding that customers should be allowed to choose an electricity supplier by letting competition enter a market where only a regulated utility monopoly existed before. It is felt that the market forces of supply, demand, and competition will help to keep electricity costs low, and stimulate innovative new products and services that didn’t exist under regulation. Maryland began this process in 1999.

    So if there is supposed to be a choice of suppliers, why can’t we find any besides our existing utility?
    What has been found in every state where restructuring has been tried, including Maryland, is that competition only appears for large industrial customers. This is because electricity suppliers who try to recruit individual homeowners and small businesses quickly learn that the marketing expense is much too high per customer to make it worth their while, and they abandon the effort.

    What exactly is municipal aggregation?
    Aggregation in general refers to many customers joining together to form a buying group. Municipal aggregation refers specifically to the situation where a municipality organizes the pooling of its citizens to become the buying group. The municipality (or a group of them) then seeks out offers on behalf of its constituents to get a better price, terms and services than would be available to an individual.

    What is the “opt-out” part?
    If a municipality has to go out and recruit citizens to join the buying group (i.e. getting them to “opt-in” to the program), then just like when a business tries to do it, it is prohibitively expensive in time and money. Where aggregation can be successful is when it is allowed to be done another way using the so-called “opt-out” approach. This allows the city to publicly declare its intention to become an aggregating entity for its citizens through hearings and mailings, and all citizens are then included in the buying group unless they respond to the mailings or otherwise tell the municipality they wish to “opt-out” of the program.

    There’s a lot more detail in that document, but I think that this gives a pretty good idea of what’s going on. The document explains that forming such a buying group, where people would belong unless they explicitly bother to request exclusion, is not currently legal in Maryland; the proposed legislation is the thing that would make it legal to do this. It also asserts that the electrical utilities — PEPCO in particular — are opposed to this because it would force them to be more competitive.

Anyway, what follows is the complete text of the City’s 2007 legislative agenda, as posted on their website:

City of Gaithersburg State Legislative Priorities for 2007
Posted 12/27/2006


FUNDING

Regional Aquatic/Recreation Center - Bond Bill Needed for Construction

  • Additional funding is needed to move forward with this project on Route 28 and Edison Park Drive that will serve both City and County residents.
  • The project is now in design phase.
  • Gaithersburg has committed $9.5 million.
  • Montgomery County has committed $6 million.
  • Crown Farm project developers have committed $5 million.
  • $1 million bond bill is requested in the 2007 legislative session so we can move to the construction phase.

Police - State Aid Requested to Improve Public Safety

  • Maryland provides $1,800 in state aid for each sworn municipal police officer. This figure has not increased since 1999.
  • Additional state assistance is necessary for Gaithersburg to expand its force, which currently stands at 49 sworn officers.
  • The Maryland Municipal League has made increasing this aid a key component of its legislative agenda.

TRANSPORTATION

Watkins Mill Road Interchange - Engineering Funds Need to be Increased

  • The Watkins Mill Road Interchange at I-270 is critical.
  • It will aid economic development and reduce congestion at one of the busiest intersections in Montgomery County
  • The City and County are working with developers on the Watkins Mill Road extension.
  • Gaithersburg recently approved a Road Participation Agreement that would provide for build-out in two years.
  • Gaithersburg has secured 65% of the Interchange right-of-way at no cost to the state. Efforts are underway to secure the rest.
  • The Interchange is in the engineering phase, but there are not adequate engineering funds earmarked for this project in FY 2008.
  • The proposed Consolidated Transportation Plan only calls for $800,000 and the Department of Transportation notes that an additional $7.8 million is needed for engineering.

Corridor Cities Transitway - Make a Top Funding Priority

  • Congestion on I-270 has reached intolerable levels.
  • The Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT), which is supported by municipalities along the route, provides an effective light rail alternative to commuters.
  • The entire right-of-way throughout the City of Gaithersburg is available for construction, and the land for the transit stations has been set aside.
  • This project needs to be the next major transportation initiative in Maryland.

LEGISLATION

Metropolitan District Tax - Exempt Gaithersburg and Rockville

  • Gaithersburg requests a Bi-County bill establishing that properties annexed into the City of Gaithersburg or City of Rockville since 1965 not be subject to the Metropolitan District Tax.
  • This tax is used to support parks operated by the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
  • It has never been assessed on properties located within Gaithersburg or Rockville, but a recent County Attorney’s opinion has determined that properties annexed in either City should be subject to the tax.
  • Both Gaithersburg and Rockville have their own extensive parks systems and recreational programs that are funded by the respective City’s property tax revenues.

Hotel/Motel Tax- Allow Municipalities to Assess

  • The City of Gaithersburg currently has 14 hotels operating within City limits.
  • They require additional public services such as police protection.
  • Gaithersburg requests that enabling legislation be approved allowing municipalities to assess a 3% hotel/motel tax.
  • Most counties and the City of Baltimore currently charge a hotel/motel tax, but other municipalities do not have the authority to assess a tax of this nature

Municipal Opt-Out Electrical Aggregation- Approve

  • Deregulation has not produced meaningful competition in Maryland, and our residents’ electric utility rates continue to increase.
  • Like municipalities across this State, the City of Gaithersburg would like to seek competitive bids from electric providers on behalf of our residents.
  • We are requesting that the General Assembly approve municipal opt-out electrical aggregation this year.

Development Excise Taxes- Enact Enabling Legislation

  • The City of Gaithersburg is supportive of Rockville’s request for enabling legislation that would permit municipalities to charge development excise taxes to assist in providing the infrastructure necessary to support new development