LAUREL, MD – February 5, 2016: WSSC’s commissioners will hold a special meeting on Monday, February 8, at 9:30 a.m., to discuss two pieces of pending legislation in the Maryland General Assembly that could impact WSSC, as well as WSSC’s Delegation of Authority to the General Manager/CEO.
The first bill, PG/MC 108-16, WSSC Ratemaking Structure Study Bill, introduced by Delegate Charles E. Barkley (Montgomery County), would require the State Office of Legislative Audits to perform a study of WSSC’s ratemaking structure and compare it to other government-controlled water and sewer utilities in Maryland and in the nation that are of similar-size. Additionally, there is a revised amendment by Delegate Al Carr (Montgomery County), authorizing WSSC to establish certain classes of customers and requiring uniform service rates for each customer class.
A second bill, PG/MC 104-16, WSSC Budget Approval Bill, sponsored by the Prince George’s County Delegation at the request of the Prince George’s County Council, stipulates if the Montgomery and Prince George’s County Councils fail to agree on any item in WSSC’s proposed annual capital or operating budgets or on the proposed capital or operating budgets, the funding level for the item or for the budget would be that “for the immediately preceding fiscal year.” A subsequent amendment to PG/MC 104-16 provides that, in the event of disagreement between the two County Councils, the funding level for the item or for the budget would be the lesser of either: (a) 33% of the requested budget increase for the immediately preceding fiscal year; or (b) the funding level recommended in a review conducted by WSSC before the end of 2016 that compares WSSC’s ratemaking structure with the structure of other comparable water and sewer utilities and recommends “funding levels for [WSSC’s] capital budget and operating budget.”
Finally, the commissioners have the discretion to delegate certain aspects of the contracting and decision-making authority entrusted to them to the General Manager/CEO. At this meeting, they will review the delegation of authority to the General Manager/CEO regarding certain personnel issues.The meeting will be conducted in open session in the Large Conference Room of the Commission Office at WSSC headquarters, 14501 Sweitzer Lane, Laurel, MD 20707. The commissioners will attend by telephone, while relevant staff will attend in person. The public is invited to attend in person.
Minutes of the meeting will be available on WSSC’s website after they have been drafted by the corporate secretary and approved by the full Commission.