Municipal officials gather in Cambridge for annual
conference By Kevin Dayhoff October 30, 2011
Sunday evening and early Monday morning, elected officials
from Maryland cities and towns throughout the state will converge on the
Cambridge Hyatt Chesapeake Bay conference facilities for the Maryland
Municipal League’s fall legislative conference.
The Maryland Municipal League, was founded in 1936 by
Annapolis Mayor Louis N. Phelps in an effort for Maryland municipalities to
obtain funds available to local governments from the Work Progress
Administration (WPA] under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.
The organization that is completely run by local officials
from the 157 cities and towns from across the state works as an advocate for
municipalities throughout the State of Maryland.
Rockville Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio summed it up best in a June
9, 2011 press release when “Rockville was one of 44 cities and towns in
Maryland to earn the Maryland Municipal League (MML) distinction of Banner
City/Town…
“The work that the Maryland Municipal League does is vital
to the cities and towns in Maryland, and Rockville is better able to enhance
the quality of life for residents because of our work with the group,” said Marcuccio.
This year’s fall conference comes hours after a rare October
winter storm dumped approximately 4 to 9 inches of heavy wet snow on the
Maryland area for most of Saturday.
According to a Baltimore
Sun article by Joe Burris,
“Wet snow fell throughout Maryland, with the National Weather Service issuing
preliminary reports of up to 4.5 inches in northern Baltimore County, as much
as 6 inches in Carroll County and up to 9 inches in Allegany County…”
The unseasonable cold temperatures resulted in “The weather
service (issuing) a freeze warning for the Baltimore-Washington area from
midnight to 9 a.m. on Sunday. The weather service said that temperatures would
range from the 20s in mountainous areas to the low 30s in urban areas,”
according to Burris.
The weather may not the only “deep freeze” descending upon
the state as national, statewide and local elected officials attempt to fathom
the political consequences of the recent Maryland General Assembly’s
congressional redistricting special session, October 17 – 19, 2011.
On the third day of the special session, October 19, the
Maryland House of Delegates passed Democrat Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley
controversial redistricting map to redraw Maryland eight seats in the U.S.
House of Representatives by a vote of 91-46.
The results drew the ire of statewide and local official,
both Democrat and Republican alike and spawned threats of federal lawsuits.
“A coalition of African-American voting rights groups and
Republicans announced they will oppose Gov. Martin
O'Malley's plan to redraw the state's eight congressional districts and
warned that they intend to take the issue to court,” noted Bryan Sears in
an article for the Lutherville – Timonium Patch,
“Carletta Fellows, a spokeswoman for the Fannie Lou Hamer PAC, called O'Malley's plan
‘institutional racism’ and said it violates the federal Voting Rights Act by
not creating a third majority minority district.”
With the controversial congressional redistricting already a
distant distraction from the country’s ongoing economic malaise, elected
officials from Maryland’s cities and towns have their work cut out for them as
they prepare for the upcoming regular
session of the Maryland General Assembly in January 2012.
The contracted economy has caused a prolonged reduction of
revenues from local governments from across the state in the face of increased
demands on services.
The most
pressing issue on the minds of municipal officials is the matter of restoring
funds that have been lost over the last number of years because of problems in
the state budget.
Other areas that appear to be on the minds of municipal
officials are Maryland Department of Planning’s PlanMaryland initiative and the
recent recommendation by the Maryland Blue Ribbon Commission on Maryland
Transportation Funding that the state increase the gas tax by 15 cents per
gallon.
Cities
have lost the most money in Highway User Revenues.
Maryland’s incorporated cities and towns have few municipal
revenue sources to rely on. More than other government forms in Maryland,
cities and towns depend on the property tax as their primary general fund
revenue source with which to support basic services for our communities.
However, as I learned first hand when I served on the MML
board of directors for five consecutive years, from June 2000 to May 2005; in
addition to education and networking, perhaps the MML has been most effective
in advocating for municipalities with the Maryland General Assembly.
Each year, the MML chooses several priority issues that
directly affect the future well-being of Maryland’s cities and towns, and those
who live in them.
The MML then has these issues introduced as legislation
before the Maryland General Assembly, and works to usher these issues through
the legislative process.
While the MML’s legislative agenda for the upcoming Maryland
General Assembly remains a priority of the conference, the annual training and
educational get-together has been expanded in recent years to make it more like
a “mini convention.”
Each year, the MML
fall conference gives elected officials from municipalities across the state an
opportunity to get together for seminars, workshops and discussions on the
various issues facing Maryland cities and towns and helps prepare for the
upcoming regular session of the Maryland General Assembly in January.
It may be easily argued that Maryland state budget cuts to
municipalities in recent years could have easily caused much more damage to
local governments if it had not been for the tireless efforts of the MML
working the hallways and offices of Annapolis during the legislative session.
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[20111030 sdosm Municipal officials gather in Cambridge]
MML – Maryland Municipal League Fall Conference October 31 -
November 2, 2011
Labels: Maryland
Municipal League see MML, MD
MML Muni League Disclosure, MD
Municipal League qv MML, MML, MML
Municipal League
For more information on the 2011 Fall Maryland Municipal
League’s Fall Legislative Conference at the Cambridge Maryland Hyatt Regency
Chesapeake Bay, including a “Complete 2011
Fall Conference Information (.pdf)” packet, visit the MML website at www.mdmunicipal.org.
MML Fall Conference October 31 - November 2, 2011
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