Montgomery council sets aside office renovations after school board protest

The Montgomery County Council has set aside plans to renovate its aging office building, following protests from the school board president that the $31 million proposal sends the wrong message as the county attempts to secure more school construction money from Annapolis.

Council President George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) said Tuesday that the matter has been pulled from the agenda of a government operations committee meeting scheduled for Thursday. He said the item was removed not because of school board opposition, but because there is no council consensus on how to proceed.

He said that for the moment the council is one vote short of the six members needed to approve appropriations that do not originate with the county executives office. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) is opposed to the plan.

[Montgomery leaders urge support for school construction funding]

Asked if the measure would be back on the table this year, Leventhal said it was too early to say.

Renovation of the councils Maryland Avenue headquarters in Rockville has been under discussion in one form or another for several years. Officials say the facility parts of which date to the 1940s is overcrowded and decrepit.

The plan would replace heating and air conditioning systems, lighting and windows, and expand office space for council members and its research arm, the Office of Legislative Oversight. It also calls for renovation of the buildings first-floor auditorium. About $25 million of the estimated $31 million total cost would be covered by proceeds from the sale of general obligation bonds. An alternative proposal calls for renovating the Grey and Red Brick Courthouses for new council offices, also primarily with bond funds, at a an estimated cost of $36 million.

The plans prompted Board of Education President Patricia ONeill to contact Sen. Nancy J. King (D-Montgomery), sponsor of a bill that would provide the county with $20 million a year in state funds to leverage issuance of $700 million in school construction bonds. ONeill expressed concern that the council renovations could undermine the bills chances, although King said it would likely have no impact and added that the bill has little chance of passage this year.

Leventhal alerted council members Friday that the school system intends to campaign against appropriations for council facilities.

In the school systems view, 100 percent of the budget should be available for school construction, he said. Their plan is that any available dollar should go to school construction.

Follow this link:
Montgomery council sets aside office renovations after school board protest