Is Prince George’s Co raiding another agency’s budget to get around property tax caps? – WTOP News
Is it really business as usual, or an effort to dodge legal limits imposed by voters decades ago?
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That’s just one of the questions a judge will have to answer as the $39 million dispute between Prince George’s County and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission continues.
The two sides are due to meet in court on Sept. 21, but last week the commission laid out several arguments supporting its case in a pretrial briefing.
Right off the bat, the commission argued the county’s raid of commission funds was different from in years past.
While admitting that the commission has previously reimbursed county agencies and various sports and recreation groups that operate in the county, this time, it said, the mandated upfront cash transfer is without precedent, and aims, in its words, “to remove any barriers to its preferred organizations receiving allocated funds — regardless of how they actually use those funds.”
The commission argued the council violated the law in several ways, starting with a 1973 Maryland state Supreme Court ruling that said the county wasn’t allowed to “control Commission functions” or treat revenue streams that go directly to the commission “as County funds.” It also argued that using commission revenue to help fund third-party grants also violates state law, since the commission isn’t allowed to issue grants.
Then the commission laid out what it believes is the real reason for the $39 million transfer.
“The Commission asserts that TRIM — County law that caps the County’s ability to raise property taxes to increase its General Fund — is the core economic driver behind the County’s unlawful” reallocation of money, according to the complaint.
County leaders have long complained that TRIM hamstrung them from passing a budget as they see fit.
But the commission said the dedicated property tax revenue stream used to fund the agency are supposed to be “legally segregated” from the general fund.
At least that’s one explanation offered up by the commission as to why, in its words, “the County is using Commission accounts as a fiscal relief valve for its own deficits and initiatives,” though the briefing also argued even if a judge disagrees with that theory, it should still prevail on the merits.
Prince George’s County’s response to these claims is due this Friday. However, in the days after the lawsuit was originally filed, the county maintained this was a standard budgeting practice going back decades.
“The project charges agreements between the County and Commission that the Commission is now challenging have been in place for over two decades and have benefited communities all throughout Prince George’s County,” the county said in a statement.
County leaders also took issue with how the commission has spent the money it raises.
“What park and planning has done has spent over $100 million on a corporate headquarters building,” said Council member Ed Burroughs right after the lawsuit was filed.
“I welcome the conversation and debate around park and planning,” he added. “It’s a large entity that Prince George’s County taxpayers gives hundreds of millions of dollars to every single year, and so we should be debating what is an appropriate use of those funds.”
By that point, the dispute over how M-NCPPC money has been used by the county had been simmering for months. In April, state lawmakers told the county to stop raiding the commission’s bank accounts after more than $27 million was moved by the county council from the commission to other parts of the county budget.
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