Montgomery County Civic Federation, Inc.

HOMEOWNERS TAX CREDIT 2016 DEADLINE

Residents who recently applied for the Homeowners Tax Credit (HTC) through the State of Maryland and Montgomery County should receive an updated property tax bill by early November.  September 1, 2016, was the deadline for applying for the HTC for most homeowners, but those age 70 and older can apply retroactively, subject to certain limitations.

The MCCF HTC Calculator was removed from our website in 2021.  Now that SDAT claims to have fixed its problem going forward, there is no need for the calculator.

ANALYSIS OF THE INCOME TAX OFFSET CREDIT

Montgomery County distributes $52 million in tax credits each year to property owners who are not entitled to these credits.
VIEW MCCF WHITE PAPER

2014 EXEMPT WSSC FROM FOREST CONSERVATION ACT

Two 2014 General Assembly local bills to exempt WSSC from Forest Conservation Act and Local Street Tree Regulations have been withdrawn.  [Go to the link below on this website to view synopses of the bill and to view MCCF testimony on MC/PG 104-14.
VIEW CURRENT LEGISLATIVE ISSUES

ELECTRICITY GRID RESILIENCY TASK FORCE

On 3 October 2012, Maryland Governor O’Malley released the report of his (Electricity Distribution) Grid Resiliency Task Force.
VIEW TASK FORCE REPORT
■ On 1/16/13, County Executive Leggett and County Council sent a joint letter to the Governor thanking him for releasing the Grid Resiliency Task Force Report, and recommending actions to be taken by the Public Service Commission to ensure greater reliability of the electricity grid.
VIEW COUNCIL LETTER

PEPCO RELIABILITY

On 4/20/11, the County’s Pepco Work Group released its final report.
VIEW COUNTY PEPCO RELIABILITY WEBPAGE

ELECTRICITY SERVICE QUALITY AND RELIABILITY ACT

Legislation HB391/SB692 — Maryland Electricity Service Quality and Reliability Act — introduced in Maryland General Assembly.  Bills require the Public Service Commission (PSC) to set electricity standards for frequency of outages and outage duration and would apply to all major electric distribution companies operating in Maryland.  Strongly suggest that national measures be used and specifies that the policy of the state would be that the standard must be in the fourth (or highest) quartile of electric companies nationally.  The bills require the standards be adopted by July 2012 (or 2013 in Senate bill) and that PSC determine by July 2013 whether the standards are being met.  Requires a penalty if standards not met, which can’t be passed onto the ratepayer.  Funds collected under penalty would be returned to affected ratepayers.
VIEW CURRENT LEGISLATIVE ISSUES

2011 PSC REVISED RELIABILITY REGULATIONS

A 2/22/11 press release noted that on 2/17/11 the County responded to the Public Service Commission’s proposed revision of the State regulation regarding the reliability and quality of service provided by electric companies.
VIEW 2/7/11 COUNTY COMMENTS TO PSC