Could voters cap county spending at the rate of inflation?

November’s ballot may include a proposal to cap the county’s annual spending increases at the rate of inflation — unless the County Council unanimously votes to exceed the limit.

This week, the group behind the proposal, Control MoCo Spending, submitted 11,300 signatures to the Montgomery County Board of Elections to get the proposal on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Elections officials will have to verify each signature to ensure that they came from eligible Montgomery County voters. If there are at least 10,000 valid signatures, all Montgomery County registered voters will get to weigh in on the proposal.

Control MoCo Spending was founded last year by former Montgomery County Republican Party Chair Reardon Sullivan, who left the group to run for County Council District 1.

He won the District 1 Republican primary for the seat last month, running unopposed.

“I decided that the best thing I could do for the County is to introduce legislation that would put guardrails on County spending,” he said Tuesday.

Control MoCo Spending is now chaired by Mark Lautman, a local independent political activist.

“This measure does not determine which programs are funded or reduced,” Lautman said. “It simply requires the County Council to establish priorities, make responsible budget decisions, and control the overall growth of spending.”

If the petition makes it onto the ballot and passes, Sullivan could declare a second major political victory in this heavily Democratic county. In 2024, his push for a charter amendment to limit the county executive to two consecutive four-year terms passed easily, preventing County Executive Marc Elrich from running for a third term.

In a media briefing Wednesday, Elrich criticized the spending cap initiative.

“Their proposal ignores the basic economic reality,” he said. “The cost of building and maintaining comprehensive public services and infrastructure has nothing to do with general inflation.”

Raskin secures $2 million for county workforce development center

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin has secured $2 million in federal community project funding to renovate and expand the Gustavo Torres Vocational Training Center in Rockville. The center is managed by We Are CASA, an organization that advocates for immigrants in the region.

Named for We Are CASA’s former longtime director, the center partners with Montgomery College and other local colleges, as well as the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, to offer vocational training classes to low-income immigrant students. They can learn, among other skills, building maintenance, computer repair, literacy and nursing assistant certification.

“Across the country, including here in Montgomery County, employers are in dire need of skilled workers while many low- and moderate-income people struggle to obtain the credentials they need,” Will Bleier, a spokesperson for Raskin, said in a Friday press release. “This funding will help to close that gap and help MoCo residents get the training they need to qualify for good-paying jobs in critical fields.”

Raskin, whose district includes the southeastern portion of Montgomery County, will join Elrich and We Are CASA Executive Director George Escobar to tour the center and speak with students in the program on Monday.