Enlisting Residents To Hunt for Road Funds

Floreen Wants Group to Explore County Coffers

Montgomery County Council member Nancy Floreen (D-At Large) wants to pull together a task force of residents who know their way around the economics of transportation projects and are able to think imaginatively about ways to pay for road and transit needs.

Montgomery has a backlog of transportation projects that cannot move forward because they have not been fully funded by the state, which is strapped for cash. This year's session of the General Assembly did little to change the situation, Floreen said, and she felt compelled to act.

Floreen, chairman of the council's Transportation and Environment Committee, said that the county needs to explore its own coffers for sources of revenue for transportation projects. She did not identify sources of funds but said that she would like the task force to identify "at least $50 million annually to move county transportation projects forward."

"This is the time to do it," Floreen said. "We have a new county executive, a new government. We have a lot of new players, and all of them have expressed a commitment to transportation."

The county's 10-year transportation plan, adopted in 2002, estimated that transportation and transit projects that are in the pipeline or are expected to be in the pipeline would cost $7 billion. Of that amount, about $6 billion was the state's responsibility, and $1 billion was the county's, said Glenn Orlin, the County Council's deputy staff director.

A large chunk of the state's contribution was earmarked for the planned intercounty connector -- about $2.4 billion in 2007 dollars, Orlin said.

Last year, the County Council agreed to allocate $80 million from the county liquor fund to pay for transportation projects that the state had not fully funded. The county plans to sell a first batch of revenue bonds for road projects this spring, Orlin said. He did not know the amount of the bond sale but said it was roughly half of the $80 million.

Floreen's proposal is being reviewed by the council's management and fiscal policy committee. If the County Council approves the plan, Floreen said that she will move quickly to assemble the working group.

"It would be people educated in economics, finance and transportation," she said. "I'd want outside experts . . . to identify any recommendations they're aware of, approaches they think are sound for us to undertake."

The idea for the task force, which Floreen has dubbed "the working group on transportation infrastructure financing," has garnered support from county officials. The measure is being co-sponsored by Valerie Ervin (D-Silver Spring), Michael Knapp (D-Upcounty) and George L. Leventhal (D-At Large).

"We face these enormous shortfalls in transportation funding, and we hope to get support from the state, and we also have to step up to the plate as a county," Leventhal said. "And I think county residents would support devoting more resources."

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) expressed support for the formation of the working group as a way to "help us stop talking about transportation problems and start funding solutions to keep Montgomery moving."