Greenwill Group keeps commissioners abreast of legislative changes

CHESTERTOWN — Hired in 2023 to help Kent get a handle on Maryland’s Blueprint for Education — government relations specialists, Greenwill Consulting Group — updated the county commissioners on legislation coming from Annapolis.

During the June 13 meeting of the commissioners, representatives of Greenwill Consulting Group, Managing Partner, Jonathan Carpenter and Lesly Feliz, Government Affairs assistant, shared a rundown on what occurred in Annapolis to pass the budget for fiscal 2025.

At this point, Carpenter noted, Governor Wes Moore has finished all his bill signings. So on July 1, or Oct. 1, depending on the priority, they’ll be enacted.

Carpenter provided a timeline of events within the Maryland General Assembly, and a glimpse into the flurry of activity to pass the budget before the assembly’s last day, April 8.

“When we (the firm) talked last year prior to the session, we said how things felt like Christmas in Annapolis, the way they were throwing money around,” he said. “This year, that wasn’t the case.”

There was a major deficit, so no money-throwing, just hand-wringing.

But Carpenter pointed out, be it ever so messy, it got done.

The General Assembly passed approximately a $63 billion budget, that had a structural hole they closed with tobacco related taxes amounting to about $94 million a year in extra income.

Carpenter talked about Moore’s focus going forward: juvenile justice reform, public safety issues, housing, transportation, and the Blueprint Education Bill, which was going to be a $227 million deficit by itself.

Over this year’s legislative session, Carpenter and Feliz dealt with 3,000 bills, a majority of them pre-filed. Of those 3,000 bills, Feliz zeroed in on the legislation passed this session, with an emphasis on county-specific bills, many of those focused on tax revenue and credits, and tourism and economic development.

House Bill 186 is an Eastern Shore-specific bill allowing code home rule counties (like Kent) to increase the maximum hotel rental tax rate from 5 to 6%.

Senate Bill 453 will require counties to establish an assisted out-patient treatment program to be completed by July 2026. In the event that the county does not fulfill that, the Maryland Department of Health has to create one.

House Bill 35 instructs county permitting offices to submit an estimated cost of construction when submitting building permits to the supervisor of assessments of the county where the building is located.

Senate Bill 783 established several solar energy property tax incentives.

House Bill 66 authorizes counties to establish a tax credit for:

Residential real property owned by a public school system employee.Any apartment or condominium buildings that have any health or safety improvements done starting July of this year.Property that has local housing programs, specifically for programs that help with homelessness for individuals or families.

Senate Bill 321 grants counties and municipalities the ability to authorize a tax credit against a county or municipal property tax imposed on real property that is used for certain hotel or residential development projects.

Senate Bill 14 gained popularity from municipalities and the Maryland Municipal League, and authorizes the county or municipalities to designate tourism zones to be able to have incentives for gross receipts, admission and amusement tax. It also grants a tax credit for qualifying tourism enterprises. An effort to increase tourism, and offer incentives for companies and organizations, the group said.

House Bill 2 supported by Governor Wes Moore, allows counties to establish a subclass for real property cited as vacant or otherwise unfit for habitation. Feliz noted, the problem is there are a lot of vacant properties and it’s hard to get the owners to the table to do anything about it, which is impacting the economic development in many areas. Thorough this new designation, a special tax rate is established for these properties.

Going forward, in the interim period between the next legislative session, there will be some meetings between the lobbyists and Maryland Department of Education. The group also intends to work with Senator Stephen Hershey and the Eastern Shore delegates on wastewater issues.

“MDE (Maryland Department of the Environment) is a priority and continues to be,” Carpenter said.

They’ll attend public safety meetings as well, reaching out to facilitate meetings with Carolyn J. Scruggs, Maryland Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

And they’ll return to Kent County shortly to talk about the next General Assembly session’s bills and the priorities.

“We have to get out in front of the curve, so this meeting will happen. It never stops, lot of folks think just cause the session is over with that’s it. That’s never the case,” Carpenter added.

Commission member John Price told them to keep their ear on the ground about the replacement of Kent County Middle School. The community faces a local share of over $45 million for the construction, a heavy burden for a population of around 20,000.

Another key project is the wastewater treatment plant in Millington, Fithian mentioned. The county is trying to get the current plant out of the flood zone and replace it with a high-tech facility.

Greenwill Group promised to prioritize these concerns, and keep the commission informed of their progress.

“It would be impossible for us to keep up with all this without your assistance,” Fithian said. “We can’t stress how much we appreciate the cooperation we’ve had with you throughout the years.”