Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Councilman Philip Andrews, a vocal opponent of the raises, was the only dissenting vote.
All but one member of the Montgomery County Council voted to approve pay raises for county government, police and fire and rescue employees Tuesday. It will be the first raise for government employees in four years. Councilman Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist 3) of Gaithersburg, was the only dissenting vote. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) negotiated the pay increases in his $4.8 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2014 as part of new two-year contracts with employees’ unions. Fiscal 2014 begins July 1. Most county employees will receive two raises this summer: a cost-of-living increase and a step increase. A step is a pay raise for one year of service. Police officers will receive an increase equal to one-and-a-half steps and firefighters …
Friday, April 26, 2013
County Council panels vote to back pay bumps for government and public safety workers.
A freeze in cost-of-living raises for Montgomery County government and public safety employees may be thawing out. The Montgomery County Council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy committees voted unanimously Thursday to back a proposal to raise county employees’ salaries by up to 3.25 percent. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) negotiated the raises as part of new two-year contracts with employees’ unions and included them as part of his $4.8 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2014, which begins July 1. If approved as part of the county budget, the 3.25 percent raise for county government workers would go into effect in September. Police officers would see a 2.1 percent bump in July. Fire and rescue personnel would see a 2.75 …
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Montgomery County will be installing 292 parking meters.
Montgomery County will install 292 parking meters this spring near Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville, the county announced on Facebook on Monday. The meters will be along these streets: • Medical Center Drive between Great Seneca Highway and Key West Avenue. • Broschart Road between Key West Avenue and Medical Center Drive. • Blackwell Road between Broschart Road and Great Seneca Highway. In a press release, the county cited more parking turnover and relieving congestion as the goals of the meters. The parking rates will be 65-cents an hour, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. No payment will be required on weekends or holidays.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
County government disseminates information via social media. Patch brings it to you.
The Montgomery County government has gotten with the times. Elected officials and county offices are using Twitter and Facebook to communicate. That's a smart strategy, as that's where residents spend much of their time online. Patch will look to find interesting information posted via social media and share it with you. Today, we'll start with the county's page, which lists the Twitter accounts for County Council members, county government departments and other agencies. You can choose whom you'd like to follow on Twitter, or you can monitor the whole list with a list at this link.
County government disseminates information via social media. Patch brings it to you.
The Montgomery County government has gotten with the times. Elected officials and county offices are using Twitter and Facebook to communicate. That's a smart strategy, as that's where residents spend much of their time online. Patch will look to find interesting information posted via social media and share it with you. Today, we'll start with the county's page, which lists the Twitter accounts for County Council members, county government departments and other agencies. You can choose whom you'd like to follow on Twitter, or you can monitor the whole list with a list at this link.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
New study cites abuse and lax management as reasons for inflated figures.
The Montgomery County Office of Legislative Oversight released a report last Tuesday that found that the majority of more than $63 million in county overtime costs from January 2011 to June 2012 was paid to police and fire agencies and that a significant amount of the extra pay was the result of sick-leave abuse. The study, "Employee Work Hours and Leave in Montgomery County," revealed the county paid $63.3 million in overtime to 6,789 county employees. Click here to read the full report. Montgomery County Councilman George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) of Takoma Park described the findings as a “wake-up call to management” and told The Washington Post “someone has to rein in those costs." The study found that approximately 70 percent of the …
Friday, March 8, 2013
New study cites abuse and lax management as reasons for inflated figures.
The Montgomery County Office of Legislative Oversight released a report Tuesday that found that the majority of more than $63 million in county overtime costs from January 2011 to June 2012 was paid to police and fire agencies and that a significant amount of the extra pay was the result of sick-leave abuse. The study, "Employee Work Hours and Leave in Montgomery County," revealed the county paid $63.3 million in overtime to 6,789 county employees. Click here to read the full report. Montgomery County Councilman George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) of Takoma Park described the findings as a “wake-up call to management” and told The Washington Post “someone has to rein in those costs." The study found that approximately 70 percent of the …
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Storm warning lifted; SHA continues to urge caution on roads.
Update, 5 p.m.: Snow emergency responses wound down, as the National Weather Service canceled the winter storm warning for the Washington metropolitan region Wednesday afternoon. The Maryland State Highway Administration urged motorists to continue to drive with caution, especially after sundown as visibility drops and roads could freeze. SHA encouraged drivers to dial 511 or go to www.MD511.org for traffic, weather alerts and road conditions. Road conditions, live traffic cameras and a variety of information to help with travel decisions and planning are available at www.roads.maryland.gov, SHA said in a news release. The Montgomery County government said its 311 call center would close at 7 p.m. and reopen at 6 a.m. Thursday. Pepco …
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Tell us what you think.
It’s budget season in Montgomery County, and at least one local parent wants to know what county leadership is doing to protect students—protection that can’t come from armed guards and locked doors. Football season is recently concluded, hockey season is underway and sporting concussions continue to pose health risks to high school, college and pro athletes across the country. While state and county lawmakers have made strides in requiring concussion-training for high school coaches, local advocate and Patch blogger Tom Hearn says it’s not enough. Hearn, whose own son sustained a concussion playing JV football at Whitman High School in 2011, urges the county school board to include $500,000 in funding for high school athletic trainers in…
Thursday, January 31, 2013
The Silver Spring Councilwoman joins council members George Leventhal and Phil Andrews and former County Executive Doug Duncan as Democratic candidates, The Washington Examiner reported.
Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin, of Silver Spring, announced plans to join an already crowded Democratic field for the 2014 county executive race, The Washington Examiner reported. Ervin joins County Councilmen George Leventhal (At Large) and Phil Andrews (Gaithersburg/Rockville), along with former County Executive Doug Duncan in the race, according to the report. Current County Executive Ike Leggett could still announce a run for re-election. Ervin, 55, said she'd had "serious discussions" with multiple community members, pollsters and media consultants about starting her campaign, according to the report. Read the full story on The Washington Examiner.
jag
11:30 am on Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Well, at least you got the part about you being a dick right. All of those "parasit[ic]" police officers and fire fighters and teachers and domestic abuse counselors and code enforcement personnel and librarians and public defenders, etc. that you're *obviously* better and more important than are the ones who haven't seen an increase in several years (a period when incomes have in fact risen in … more ›