Politics & Government

City Council Meets Tuesday

Budget principles, Corridor Cities Transitway and annexations are on the agenda

The Rockville City Council took Monday off in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and will hold its weekly meeting on Tuesday. 

Discussions of the fiscal 2012 budget, the Corridor Cities Transitway and possible annexation of 11 properties in Twinbrook are on the council’s agenda

The council is scheduled to adopt budget principles that are based on priorities identified by the mayor and council during discussions late last year. The principles will be used by staff to develop the city’s fiscal 2012 operating and capital budget plans.

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The recommended spending principles include increasing employee compensation by 1 percent, maintaining health care benefits and contributions to the pension fund and increase funding for outside agencies by 1 percent.

On the revenue side, the recommended principles call for keeping the property tax rate constant and continuing the Homeowners’ Tax Credit Program for low- and moderate-income homeowners.

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The recommended principles also call for continuing water, sewer and stormwater management fund rates adopted in May.

The council will get an update on the city’s position on the CCT, a proposed 14-mile transit line between the Shady Grove Metro station and the COMSAT site near Clarksburg. The original proposed alignment would cost $461 million and carry 21,000 to 26,000 daily riders as bus rapid transit. As light rail, it would cost $876 million and carry 24,000 to 30,000 daily riders.

Business leaders say the project is critical to the county's Interstate 270 technology corridor, including the .

At a hearing on Dec. 15 in Gaithersburg, members of a group called the Coalition for the Preservation of King Farm  under an alignment through the north Rockville neighborhood.

In a meeting with city staff on Dec. 23, Maryland Transit Administration officials said they are willing to look at alternative alignments and work with the city but added that any additional studies would delay the project.

In another item, city staff recommends annexing two properties on Halpine Road, four on Twinbrook Parkway and five on Pier Drive that straddle the county and city boundary.

A 2009 law passed by the Maryland General Assembly gave cities a two-year window, beginning in October 2009, in which they may initiate annexation of properties that straddle county and city lines "without needing to follow all of the  normal annexation provisions," according to a city staff report.

Annexing the properties would yield $5,686 in annual property taxes from six of the properties that are not currently paying city property taxes and would clarify the boundary line, according to the staff report.

Staff recommends that the city not pursue the annexation of a 12th parcel, at 1300 E. Gude Drive, under the state law.

The recommendation was based on several factors. The parcel is part of a business that includes an adjacent property that is not eligible for annexation under the state law. Also, the owners of the property, BP Associates, would like to pursue annexation of the properties into the city under the standard procedures, a move that would be less costly to the city.


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