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FEATURE STORIES
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| On the
opening day of the 2005 General Assembly Session, OIR staff
who will work from the Annapolis office for three months gather in
front of the State House. Pictured above, left to right: Mary Fortin,
Kathleen Boucher, Sheila Sprague, Melanie Wenger, Jim Gilchrist and
Verna Price. |
County's Interests In Annapolis Well
Represented
With a staff of only four full-time employees, the Montgomery County
Office of Intergovernmental Relations (OIR) successfully advocates for
the County’s interests at the municipal, regional, state, and federal
levels to obtain financial and legislative support for the County’s
priorities. Here are just a few of the things these multi-taskers do:
• Advocate on behalf of the County before the Maryland General Assembly,
Governor, state administrative agencies, task forces, and committees;
• Act as the liaison with state government and the County’s
state and federal legislative delegations;
• Analyze and evaluate legislation before the Maryland General Assembly
and prepare written comments and testimony;
• Monitor and advocate on the federal level in order to take advantage
of federal opportunities; and
• Respond to legislation, regulations, or other policy issues involving
regional jurisdictions and draft legislation or amendments for County
departments.
OIR does all this and packs up and moves to Annapolis from January through
April during the state’s legislative session to be in the center
of the action, and the effort to move an entire office for three months
pays off. Last year, the Office of Intergovernmental Relations ensured
that County programs and projects received nearly a half billion dollars
in state and federal funds.
“I’m proud to be an advocate for Montgomery County and its
citizens,” said director Melanie Wenger. “Montgomery County’s
strong state legislative program is the result of much hard work over
the years by a terrific staff. We have a tradition of working closely
with state legislators to articulate this community’s priorities,
and we have been very successful in getting the state and federal support
needed to best meet our residents’ needs.”
Wenger joined OIR in 2002, and her extensive legislative experience and
15 years working for the Maryland General Assembly made her a good match
for Montgomery County. She served as the Senate President’s Chief
of Staff, worked for the Maryland General Assembly’s Department
of Legislative Services, and was a senior staff member for the Senate
Budget and Taxation Committee and the House Committee on Appropriations.
Each year, OIR works to make Montgomery County’s legislative priorities
a reality. For 2005, these priorities include education, transportation,
economic development, environment, health and human services, public safety
and arts and culture. With OIR looking out for the County’s interests,
residents can feel confident that needed projects and programs will get
the state and federal attention they deserve.
Why City and County Employees Should
File Taxes Electronically — back
to top
One of the best things city and county employees can do for themselves
and their government employer this tax filing season is to file their
state taxes electronically.
Filing electronically offers a convenient, easy and safe method for doing
your taxes and it’s the quickest way to get that state income tax
refund. If you file electronically and request direct deposit, your refund
can be deposited into your bank account within 48 hours after the filing
is received by the Maryland Comptroller’s Office. It will happen
that fast even if you wait until the April 15th deadline to file!
Aside from speed and convenience, electronic filing is a significant cost
saver for government, which every city and county employee can appreciate.
Electronically filed returns cost state government about one-fifth as
much to process as paper forms. For Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore
City, there’s an even higher cost linked directly to the burden
of paper.
Under Maryland law, a percentage of administrative expenses involved in
processing paper tax returns must be deducted from local income tax revenue
distributed to the subdivisions every year. Last year alone, that bill
amounted to $12.4 million.
That’s $12.4 million less that the local governments had to spend
on salaries, schools, parks, police and fire protection and other programs.
Adding more and more e-filers to the club can help turn that situation
around.
There are three ways you can file your Maryland taxes electronically:
• Use a commercial tax preparer
• File from your personal computer, using approved commercial software
• File online for free, using the free iFile service that Comptroller
William Donald Schaefer offers on his agency’s Web site at http://www.marylandtaxes.com
Few other states in the nation can match Maryland’s 48-hour turnaround
time for refunds, so area taxpayers are fortunate – especially since
75% usually get a refund every year. No wonder more than a third of Marylanders
file electronically.
But electronic filing can be beneficial even if you owe tax. There’s
a direct debit option available for e-filers which allows you to pick
any date (up to April 15) when the amount can be debited from your bank
account. The e-filing process also provides payers the assurance of knowing
their return was received without a hitch. There are no worries about
mistakes popping up to gum up the works, prompting a bill down the road
for additional tax and interest charges.
E-filing your taxes can make a lot of sense – and save a lot of
cents. Do yourself and your local government a favor this tax season:
file electronically. Visit the Comptroller’s Web site at http://www.marylandtaxes.com
or call 410-260-7980 from Central Maryland or toll-free 1-800-MD TAXES
from elsewhere.
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| Artist rendering |
Construction Gets Underway for
New Rockville Library — back to top
Construction has officially begun on the new Rockville Library located on Beall Avenue between North Washington Street and Route 355. The three-story building will be a central feature of the new Rockville Town Center. The first and second floors will house public library functions and the third floor will be used for administrative offices, the Friends of the Library, the Literacy Council, the Office of Human Rights, and the Office of Geographic Information Systems Services.
In the design for the new library, the architectural firm of Grimm + Parker, sought to find a way to commemorate a significant local occurrence – the mapping of the human genome – on a large public scale that would subtly and respectfully pay homage to this very important, historical discovery. The exterior wall will undulate along the curvature of Maryland Avenue, a subtle reference to one half of a double helix. The landscaping along the Maryland Avenue façade will complete the other side of the double helix.
The library will also contain two large public meeting rooms, the Friends of the Library store, a large children’s library and a teen area with a homework center and multimedia features. A number of other rooms will accommodate tutors, group studies and meetings.
The $26 million facility is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2006.
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Seniors
