MC/PG 101/09: The WSSC Financial Oversight Act

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) is the agency that delivers water to the homes and businesses in Montgomery County and Prince George's County. It is chartered in Maryland State Law. Elected officials from both counties approve the WSSC’s annual water and sewer fees as well as construction projects in the annual budgets. Montgomery County spends $757 million per fiscal year through the WSSC. Over the past three our county has ponied up $2.3 billion for the WSSC. 

Strangely though, when the Montgomery County Inspector General, Thomas Dagely (who is charged with eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in government) recently asked to see how that $2.3 billion dollars was spent the WSSC bluntly refused to provide him with their budgetary data. This is an intolerable situation. Montgomery County's residents must know that their tax-dollars are not being wasted or pilfered. Anything that hinders such reasonable oversight is a major problem. And more importantly, the WSSC should not be in the business of stonewalling the public.

Montgomery County's Inspector General position was created as an agent of the County Council. WSSC lawyers cited a portion of state law saying that it only had to provide the information in question to the County Executive, but not the County Council. You can read about this standoff in a Washington Post article by clicking here. What makes this particular issue even more confounding is that due to a legislative quirk, the Prince George's Council enjoys this oversight authority that Montgomery County lacks. So Montgomery County's tax-payers aren't as well protected as their neighbors to the South-East.

For this reason, I have introduced MC/PG 101/09: The WSSC Financial Oversight Act. This bill would simply give Montgomery County Council the same oversight authority over WSSC's budget as the County Executive and Prince George's Councilmembers currently enjoy. You can read the full text of the bill by clicking here.

This bill will be voted on in Annapolis in January. However, there will be a public hearing for this bill at 7:00 pm on Monday December 8, 2008. It will be held in the 1st Floor Auditorium in the Executive Office Bldg (101 Monroe St. Rockville). If you are interested in observing this hearing, I urge you to attend.

- Saqib