Dear Friends,
This week, I delivered my State of the County address, and in lieu of my weekly video message, we are re-airing the speech.
I talked about the progress we’ve made, the challenges we’re facing and the work ahead. But more than anything, I talked about how all of it is connected—housing, education, transportation, climate, health, the economy—none of these exist in a vacuum. One problem leads to another, and one solution opens the door to more.
I also spoke about the dangerous turn we’re seeing from the federal government—how censorship, fear and disinformation are being used to divide us. Montgomery County will not go along with that. We’re going to keep living our values, and we’re going to keep investing in people.
We celebrated investments in education, from early childhood to higher education, and the growing partnership with Montgomery College and the Universities at Shady Grove (USG). We talked about new housing projects, affordable unit preservation and changes we’re making to better serve working families. I shared the progress we’ve made on bus rapid transit, clean energy, tree planting, public safety staffing and climate action.
On transportation, we covered the work we’ve done to expand Ride On service, add zero-emission buses and prepare new Bus Rapid Transit lines along MD 355 and Veirs Mill Road. We’re also investing in micro transit and regional connections—including service to Howard County along Route 29. And we’re finally fixing the basics— 500 miles of repaved roads, 63 bridges, 190 miles of rebuilt sidewalks and every County streetlight converted to LED. That’s the kind of infrastructure that makes daily life better and safer.
On health and public safety, I talked about how those areas overlap more than people think. A lot of the 911 calls we get aren’t for crime—they’re for people in crisis. So, we’re responding with more outreach, crisis counselors and partnerships between Health and Human Services and first responders. We’ve continued the weekly health briefings that started during COVID, because our work on substance use, housing instability and food insecurity didn’t end when the headlines moved on. And I talked about the successes we are seeing in our public safety and first responder recruitment efforts, that is addressing recent staffing shortages.
On economic development, we’re seeing results from years of steady work. In North Bethesda, the new Institute for Health Computing has grown to over 100 employees and is putting us on the national map for health and biomedical innovation. In East County, Viva White Oak is finally moving forward, and I’ve personally helped get every stalled project in that area unstuck. We’ve expanded our business grants, supported early-stage companies and grown our international partnerships—especially in Asia.
I also talked about the outdated tax structure holding us back. We can’t compete with regions like Northern Virginia when we’re barred from using tools that they’ve used successfully for over a decade. They’ve used their commercial taxing structure to build infrastructure, which has been crucial to attracting economic development. They didn’t see those taxes as a burden – they understood them to be investments that made their commercial corridors more competitive. And they were right – look at how the Silver Line has transformed the Tyson’s Corner area and elsewhere along the Reston corridor. If we want to build the infrastructure we say we need, we must change the way we fund it—and that means making smart, fair reforms that bring in revenue from the right sources.
If you didn’t catch the speech, I hope you’ll take some time to watch it. I don’t just want you to hear about what we’ve done—I want you to understand why we did it, and what’s next.
If you have thoughts, questions, or feedback, please reach out. This government belongs to the people who live here, and you deserve to be part of the conversation.
Recommending Withdrawing the Property Tax, Focus on the Income Tax (more progressive) and More
When I transmitted my FY26 recommended operating budget in March, I was clear about my intention to revise that recommendation after the Maryland General Assembly finalized how they were going to deal with the State’s $3 billion budget gap. Now that their session has ended, we have sent over to the County Council amendments to my recommended budget that reflect both new revenues and new costs that have been shifted to the County.
So, we have had to make some choices.
My original budget proposed a modest property tax increase that would have only applied to an education supplemental rate. But now that the State has changed the law to allow counties to raise their income tax rate from 3.2 to 3.3%, I am proposing that we do that instead of adopting the property tax increase. It is more progressive, and it allows us to eliminate the property tax increase altogether.
In addition to withdrawing the proposed property tax rate increase, I am also recommending an increase of the County’s Income Tax Offset Credit (a $60 additional credit on your property tax for a total of $752) to offset some of the fee increases. I also recommend increasing the Working Families Income Supplement, to give low-income workers a little more support.
The increase in the income tax rate is estimated to generate between $70 and $80 million in additional revenue. The total proposed budget remains at $7.7 billion.
These changes accomplish a few important things:
- They allow us to fully fund the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) budget request.
- They help close the structural deficit without draining reserves.
- They protect working families from being hit hardest, especially when we know people are already struggling due to what is happening at the federal level.
In addition to changing the source of revenues, we will also be submitting amendments to cover new costs pushed onto us by the State. That includes additional pension contributions for teachers and community college staff. A new cost-sharing formula for the State Department of Assessments and Taxation will now require the County to pay 90% of the costs related to the local office. Additionally, I’m sending an amendment to ensure that the Parks Department’s employee contract is fully funded. You can read the most recent memos I sent to the Council here and here. As this Federal budget changes, we will also have to adjust to what are certain to be declining levels of funding, impacting incomes throughout the County.
We have been careful in our budget recommendations and made difficult decisions. The budget I sent to the Council does not contain easy cuts. Safety net items have been a priority for both my office and Council leaders. Cutting that support may save money, but it comes at a cost.
Hungry children do not do well in school, and we will pay for that later. Reducing homelessness services only puts more people on the streets. If you try to arrest your way out of that, the cost to house them in jails is greater than the cost of providing services.
We could fund less rent support and create more families who must choose between essentials like food and medicine because they will not earn enough to keep up with everything. We could reduce funding for our health care clinics and create more sick people, who often put an added burden on hospitals. We provide a safety net because the cost of not having one is even more expensive.
Finally, we will also be adjusting a few fee-based revenues, including Emergency Medical Services and Mobile Integrated Health fees.
On my weekly media briefing, the County’s Chief Administrative Officer, Rich Madaleno, joined me to discuss the new budget plan. You can hear his thoughts and our answers to reporters’ questions by following this link.
We are doing everything we can to avoid harmful cuts and make this budget as fair, responsible, and responsive as possible. Investments in key areas are still essential and I hope to get the support from the County Council to keep serving our residents in the best possible ways.
Veto of Bill 2-25: Forgoing 100% of Property Taxes for 20 years for Select Office-to-Housing Conversions
This bill gives away desperately needed County revenue without any demonstration of need. There has been no analysis determining a need for a subsidy to convince developers to convert empty office space into residential units. Developers could get millions in tax breaks, even if their projects were already viable. That’s not responsible policy—it is a blank check, and it is a corporate giveaway.
We have already seen successful conversions in Montgomery County without a single dollar of subsidy. The Guardian apartments in Silver Spring added five stories and created 178 new units, and no tax breaks were needed. So why would we now turn around and give away revenue for something the market already supports?
This bill does not meaningfully expand affordable housing either. It bumps up the moderately priced dwelling unit requirement by just a few units, barely moving the needle. And despite all the talk about workforce housing, this bill does not require any.
It also undermines the MOVE grant program, which the Council passed and I signed. This program was designed to bring businesses back into office spaces. This bill does the opposite. It encourages developers to push businesses out of half-occupied buildings. That is not good planning, and it is not good for job growth.
There is also the issue of fairness. This bill creates an uneven playing field. Developers who are already building housing in the County and paying their fair share of taxes get nothing, while others get a 20-year exemption. Why would we want to begin subsidizing market-rate housing? That is a troubling shift.
And then there is the long-term cost. Hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue would vanish. That is money we need for schools, infrastructure and public services. We have already had to cut important programs because revenue has lagged. This bill would make it even harder to fund the things residents count on, including the new residents of these buildings.
We have also heard from residents like Cheryl Gannon (president) and Alan Bowser of the Montgomery County Civic Federation; Lisa Blackwell of MCGEO; Jenny Sue Dunner and Howard Schoenholz with the Montgomery County Communities Coalition; Rohit Khanna, a Somerset Town councilmember; Lloyd Guerci with the Citizens Coordinating Committee on Friendship Heights; and Brit Simantov, representing the Kemp Mill Community.
Gannon argued that the bill should require a competitive or negotiated approach to allow the County to choose proposals with the greatest public benefit and encourage developers to put forward their best proposal. Under this bill, there is no incentive to do more than the minimum. The Council also rejected spending caps for this program, which would have contributed to fiscal certainty.
The Council passed this bill on a rushed timeline. From the introduction in early February to the final vote in early April, there was very little time for public input or serious analysis. Only one Councilmember—Vice President Will Jawando—voted against it. Unless four other Councilmembers change their vote, the Council will override my veto.
If you are concerned about what this would mean for the County’s finances, equity or the ability to deliver basic services, now is the time for residents to speak up, reach out to Councilmembers, and let them know that this isn’t the right way to encourage housing development and is not a smart use of public dollars. You can find their email addresses here.
We can support housing without blindly giving away revenue. We already have tools to approve tax exemptions when they are needed. That’s how we should operate—not through automatic giveaways.
You can watch my press conference here, during which I explain the reasons for the veto and am joined by community members who explain their reasons for supporting it. You can also read the press release here.
Stronger Protections for Renters in Montgomery County
The law, sponsored by Councilmember Kristin Mink, cosponsored by Council President Kate Stewart, Council Vice President Will Jawando, and Councilmember Dawn Luedtke, and supported by a broad coalition of community groups, ensures that renters finally have meaningful recourse when facing unsafe living conditions. It goes into effect on July 14, 2025.
This law will not apply to most landlords in Montgomery County who maintain their property, but it is necessary for the few who, unfortunately, need this law to hold them accountable. I have watched tenants struggle for years with bad property owners who allow them to live in horrid conditions until the day before a court date and then fix the issue, avoiding any penalties. That is no way to treat people who rely on an apartment, townhome, or rented house for their homes.
The new law will enable us to sue landlords who demonstrate a pattern of deceptive practices in Circuit Court. This sends a clear message: landlords who fail to provide safe, livable homes will be held accountable. I want to thank Councilmember Mink and the unanimous vote of the Council for moving this important legislation forward. Everyone deserves a safe and livable place to call home.
Connecting Students to the Jobs of Tomorrow with the InnovateED Initiative
At the same time, we have been working to grow our private sector economy because we know we cannot rely on federal employment like we used to.
That is part of what made Wednesday’s InnovateED event so important. The summit at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG) was about ensuring our residents have access to training and education programs that actually connect to the jobs that exist today, and the ones coming in the future.
The programs coming out of this initiative—from the ignITe Hub to the translational life sciences track—are grounded in partnerships between Montgomery College, USG, the University System and the County. They’re designed to give people real pathways, whether they are high school students, mid-career workers looking to pivot or folks who haven’t had access to these opportunities before.
When Amazon passed over Montgomery County for their HQ2 project in 2018, it was not because we offered less money. We offered more financial incentives than Virginia did, but Virginia won because it used its education system strategically and planned a better transportation network. It did not just show what jobs it had; it showed how it was going to deliver the talent Amazon would need. It weaponized its education infrastructure. And it worked. Maryland’s Gov. Hogan missed the mark by focusing on money.
We have been building our own version of that strategy ever since. InnovateED is a big part of it—along with other training and education initiatives we have supported, like BioHub Maryland, based in Rockville. The University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing, along with the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, will bring AI training and expertise to our workforce. This is another example of our focus on workforce development. We also support Montgomery College, whose biotech, cyber and data science programs are among the best at any two-year college in the country.
We are also working to provide more support for our innovation centers (through our Business Center) and our County’s entrepreneurs, providing not only training but real-time job opportunities for former federal employees and other County job applicants.
Our goal is to build a stronger, more resilient economy from the ground up. If you are interested in using some of our public resources to upskill, visit WorkSource Montgomery.
Amicus Brief Filed to Protect Birthright Citizenship
On Friday, April 11, Montgomery County joined 30 other local governments and over 100 local elected officials in filing an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court. This brief opposes President Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship.
Let’s be clear—ending birthright citizenship is unconstitutional. It directly contradicts the 14th Amendment, and it attacks children born in this country by denying them the citizenship they are entitled to. If this were allowed to move forward, it would create chaos. Local governments like ours would be left trying to figure out how to handle a legal and bureaucratic mess, while families suffer the consequences.
I want to thank our County Attorney’s Office for their work, and I especially want to recognize Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown. His office has led Maryland in being among the first states to challenge this executive order in court. He has taken several strong legal stands against lawless and unconstitutional actions by this administration, and I’m grateful for that leadership.
I also want to reiterate my appreciation for U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen. Last week, he traveled to El Salvador and met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was illegally sent to a prison there by the Trump administration. Sen. Van Hollen’s visit brought clarity to Garcia’s family and helped ensure that this case would not be ignored.
It takes courage to confront authoritarian governments directly, and he did it because it was the right thing to do.
At a time when federal policies are stripping away rights, sowing fear and shifting burdens to local communities, we are going to keep using our voice and every legal tool we have to push back.
Death of Pope Francis
I want to extend my condolences to the Catholic community in Montgomery County and around the world on the death of Pope Francis. Catholics make up one of the largest Christian denominations in our County, and I know this loss will be deeply felt by many, especially those who felt pride in the fact that he was the first Latin American pontiff.
Pope Francis may have led the global Catholic Church, but his life and legacy inspire many other Christian denominations and religious communities.
Pope Francis was a global figure whose character and leadership reflected the best of what religious faith can inspire. His unwavering commitment to the poor, the imprisoned and the marginalized, regardless of their faith, embodied values that speak to our shared humanity. He reminded the world that compassion, humility and justice are not abstract ideas, but principles that must guide how we treat one another.
I particularly appreciated his willingness to engage with those who had long felt excluded, including the LGBTQ+ community. He sought to hold space for tradition while responding to the realities of people’s lives with understanding and grace. That is not an easy path, but it is a courageous one.
No matter one’s faith, or lack of it, Pope Francis will be remembered as one of the great humanitarians of our time. He was a moral voice during an era increasingly defined by nationalism, authoritarianism and rising inhumanity. His death is a loss for the world, and I hope his legacy continues to inspire acts of kindness, empathy and justice in all of us.
GreenFest 2025
I am proud to celebrate a decade of community-driven environmental action. What began in 2015 to bring people together around sustainability has grown into the County’s largest environmental festival, thanks to the dedication of our government and nonprofit partners—and most importantly, our residents.
This year’s event will feature everything from electric vehicles and eco-vendors to live music and kids’ activities. But I hope people understand this is also about the serious work of tackling climate change and promoting environmental justice in every corner of our County.
We have a lot to be proud of in creating a greener community than we had even 10 years ago, but there is a long way to go to combat the damage done over the decades. I am encouraged by the progress we have made, yet I am far from satisfied, as we have much more to accomplish.
Learn about ways to be sustainable or about incentives that can help you go green for less at mygreenmontgomery.org.
As always, my appreciation for all of you,
Marc Elrich
County Executive
