Politics

Baltimore County leaders are considering new fees for certain recreational sports to access their athletic fields and courts. However, some residents are pushing back. Officials say the proposed change is an effort to modernize the Baltimore County Recreation and Parks and promote equity across the board. The proposal includes a new fee for those who participate in travel, select, club and adult programs, according to Bob Smith, the Baltimore County Director of Recreation and Parks.

Each year, Maryland lawmakers propose a number of climate-focused bills. This year, a few are cutting it close to key legislative deadlines that loom. A bill expanding the Empower program is making its way through the House to the Senate.​ "This legislation is about helping Marylanders save money on their electric bill and reducing pollution," said Josh Tulkin, director of the Maryland Sierra Club.

A majority of Frederick’s aldermen appear open to expanding the size of the city’s legislative body, but were undecided about how many seats should be by district and how many at large. The aldermen on Wednesday discussed two of the 19 recommendations of a committee that reviewed the city’s charter. One recommendation discussed Wednesday was to expand the number of seats on the city’s legislative body from five to seven. Another recommendation was to divide the body into a combination of members elected from districts around the city and others elected citywide.

The chair of the House Ways and Means Committee said she expects her committee will cobble together a revenue package meant to help the state cover billions in looming deficits and ensure the legislature can continue to pay for an education reform plan. The effort by the House panel comes days before a key deadline in the 2024 legislative session. Moving such a package would keep the idea of tax increases on the table even though Senate leaders have declared them dead this year.

As lawmakers and consumer advocates in state capitols — including in Annapolis — begin to more closely scrutinize the political activities of utilities across the country, a good government group is due to release a report that attempts to quantify the utilities’ level of political spending and lobbying activity in the Maryland State House. A new study from the Maryland PIRG Foundation, which is being released on Thursday, found that the state’s monopoly utilities have undue influence in state government policymaking. They employ an army of State House lobbyists, Maryland PIRG said, and spend millions of dollars on advertising and association membership in an attempt to sway state policy.

Whether Marylanders go to their favorite salon for a shampoo and blowout, or take their dog to the groomer for a fluffy new look, they could be paying more under a proposal from a state lawmaker. Del. David Moon, the House Majority leader in Annapolis, told the Ways and Means Committee this week he had been keeping a “nervous eye” on the state’s fiscal outlook, and said his plan to cut the sales tax from 6% to 5% but add taxes to a range of services, is a needed “conversation starter.” Moon, who found his bill facing a long list of opponents in Annapolis, said, “I’m not an economist, but I can do some basic math.”

Khalil A. Zaied, a jack of many trades, was today named Baltimore’s director of Public Works, an agency with many problems. Last seen as a deputy mayor under Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Zaied will return to city government after a brief stint as public works director for Champaign, Illinois, a city one-sixth of Baltimore’s size. Prior to that, he was a vice president of KCI Technologies, helping supervise Baltimore’s big conduit dig under Greenmount Avenue, and as a manager for El Paso, Texas.

After serving several years as Baltimore County’s transportation czar, D’Andrea Walker is set take over the county’s highest appointed office. County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. announced Tuesday that he will appoint Walker, his former director of public works and transportation, to become the next Baltimore County Administrative Officer. The administrative officer typically manages day-to-day operations in the county such as hiring of staff and implementing the budget.

A proposed bill in Maryland's capital is stirring debate as it aims to lower the state's sales tax from 6 percent to 5 percent while broadening its scope to tax services. Initially, the prospect of a lower sales tax rate may seem appealing to consumers, with the potential for more money to stay in their pockets. However, the other aspect of the bill, which seeks to expand the sales tax to encompass a wider array of goods and services, has brought controversy.