County Council Meets

The Montgomery County Council on Tuesday, Oct. 16, will receive a report from the Office of Legislative Oversight analyzing the impact the public schools budget will have on the County’s future overall budgets. The report is entitled Fiscal Planning and the new Maintenance of Effort Law.

The Council’s regular general session will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Third Floor Council Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The Council’s morning and afternoon sessions will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). The broadcasts also will be streamed through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov. The sessions will be rebroadcast on Friday, Oct. 19, starting at 9 p.m.

During the morning session, the Council is expected to take action on Councilmember Valerie Ervin’s proposal to explore establishment of a food recovery program in the County. Food recovery programs are organized to take leftover unused food—from sources such as cafeterias, special events and sporting events—and distribute it to people in need. The Council will vote Tuesday to create a working group to study how a food recovery program could be set up in Montgomery County.

The Council is also expected to take action on proposed Executive Regulation 7-12 that would establish a new goal to have 70 percent of all solid waste in the County recycled by 2020. For the past decade, the County goal has been to have 50 percent of solid waste recycled. The Council may debate whether the new goal is reasonable and achievable. The Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment (T and E) Committee has recommended approval of the initiative.

During its afternoon session, the Council will consider a recommendation for a rate increase for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission for Fiscal Year 2014. The WSSC has tentatively said it would seek an increase of 9.5 percent. The Council’s T and E committee has recommended an increase of 8.0 percent. Since the WSSC is a bi-county agency, the Montgomery and Prince George’s county councils must work toward agreement on a rate increase by next spring.

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