Proposed amendment to cap Montgomery County spending inches closer to the ballot

A proposal to cap Montgomery County’s annual spending increases at the rate of inflation is one step closer to appearing on November’s ballot — but the margin is slim.

The Montgomery County Board of Elections has certified 7,999 petition signatures submitted by Control MoCo Spending, the group behind the proposal, according to a press release issued Monday.

The group submitted an additional 2,524 signatures, which the elections board is currently processing. At least 10,000 valid signatures from registered Montgomery County voters are required for the proposal to appear on the ballot.

The proposed amendment to the county’s charter would restrict annual spending increases to the rate of inflation. The Council could increase the operating budget above the rate of inflation with a unanimous vote.

“This measure does not determine which programs are funded or reduced,” said Mark Lautman, the chair of Control MoCo Spending, also known as the Stop the Spend campaign. “It simply requires the County Council to establish priorities, make responsible budget decisions, and control the overall growth of spending.”

Lautman told The Banner in an email Thursday that while there is a strong possibility that all signatures are not valid, he is grateful for everyone who worked on the campaign, as well as the “thousands of signatories” on the petition.

“Stop the Spend heard their concerns when nobody else did,” Lautman said.

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.

Sullivan won the Republican primary for the District 1 seat in June, running unopposed.

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.

Current county officials have been critical of the proposal.

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

County announces new Vision Zero initiatives

New pedestrian and cyclist safety initiatives are coming to Montgomery County.

Every year, the county’s Vision Zero steering committee announces the projects and plans that the county will prioritize. Vision Zero is an international strategy the county has adopted, with a goal of eliminating all traffic fatalities, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists.

According to state Highway Safety Office data, there have not been significant decreases in fatal crashes since 2016, fluctuating between 30 and 49 traffic fatalities each year in the past decade.

According to a Wednesday press release, this fiscal year’s prioritized initiatives include:

• Sidewalk and bikeway connections to the Purple Line and bus rapid transit stations
• Construction of 13 new bikeways
• Construction of more than 5 miles of new sidewalks
• Safe Routes to School walkability audits and bike safety courses
• “Speed on green” traffic camera enforcement by county police

The county is also partnering with the Maryland State Highway Administration to improve safety in major traffic corridors. These efforts include ongoing construction along New Hampshire Avenue near the Beltway and planned construction along University Boulevard West between Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road.

“The upcoming year is all about safe connections,” Montgomery County Department of Transportation Director Chris Conklin said in the release. “We are working on several major corridors to improve safety through a combination of safety improvements implemented comprehensively with Flash BRT projects and as stand-alone corridor-and-spot-safety projects.”