It was business as usual 鈥� almost 鈥� during Monday鈥檚 Prince George鈥檚 County Council meeting in Maryland.
The council listened to briefings, and voted on bills and resolutions. The only difference was Council Chair Krystal Oriadha鈥檚 refusal to speak to reporters following a judge鈥檚 ruling that the council could not transfer $39 million from the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
Typically, the council chair is one of the more accessible members of the council, but this time he relied on a three page statement put out by her office Monday morning that defended the council鈥檚 right to transfer the money and argued that the MNCPPC should drop the lawsuit and collaborate with the county.
In the meantime, the only impact the judge鈥檚 granting of a temporary restraining order has is that the $39 million can鈥檛 be spent as it was allocated in the budget passed earlier this month.
“I’m sure that there will be some money shifted from other places,” said council member Jolene Ivey, who is one of two council members critical of the size of the transfers. 鈥淚 think that there are some nonprofits that might not get funded, or at least not get funded at the level that was in the bill.鈥�
Oriadha, along with councilman Ed Burroughs, have argued that the transfers were not only justified, but were also common practice. To a degree that鈥檚 so. What appears to have alarmed M-NCPPC members is the size of the transfers this time around, as well as another $27 million in cuts to the agency鈥檚 operating budget. Leaders there are still trying to determine how its operations will be impacted. Ivey said the agency had no choice but to sue.
鈥淚t has been a normal course of events that $10 to $15 million goes to what we call project charges, she said. 鈥淭hey have complained and said, ‘please don’t take more than that.’ So, how can you get that message, 鈥榩lease don’t take more than that,鈥� and then more than double it?鈥�
Members of the council suggested that it was Oriadha and Burroughs who exerted the most control over the funds. All of this comes just a few months after state lawmakers told the county to stop mid-year transfers of money from M-NCPPC 鈥� something that happened numerous times since last fall 鈥� and only do it during the normal budget cycle.
Now it鈥檚 likely that the state will step into the situation again. Even if an outright restriction of the transfers isn鈥檛 passed, one council member suggested more guardrails than currently exist right now could be established instead.
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