Howard County Council Monthly Meeting - July 13, 2026: MACo Update and State Fiscal Outlook
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Howard County Council Monthly Meeting - July 13, 2026
The Howard County Council held its monthly hybrid meeting on July 13, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. The primary agenda item was the annual update from the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo), featuring President MC Keegan-Air (Frederick County Council) and Executive Director Michael Sanderson. They discussed state fiscal challenges, property tax affordability, energy policy, housing, federal grant rule changes, and the Blueprint for Education. The council also received administrative and auditor reports. No votes or formal decisions were taken.
MACo Annual Update
- MC Keegan-Air and Michael Sanderson provided an overview of state and federal issues relevant to counties.
- State Special Session: Likely early August 2026, focused on congressional redistricting and a potential constitutional amendment; limited to that topic by leadership handshake.
- Affordability: Energy costs (electric bills up $70/month, state relief of $12/month), housing supply shortage (60,000–115,000 units short), and child care costs are top concerns. State passed bills on energy surcharge relief and housing process certainty (e.g., later payment of impact fees).
- State Fiscal Situation: Projected deficit of $2.5 billion or more for FY28, driven by Blueprint education costs and sputtering revenue growth (~1% vs. historical 4–5%). Transportation funding also short. Teacher pension cost shifts: Howard County faces an $18 million invoice this year. Counties have absorbed roughly $200 million in ongoing cost shifts.
- Federal Grants: Proposed OMB rules would allow grant claw-back mid-cycle; comment period ended July 13. NACo and counties submitted strong pushback; likely compromise.
- Property Taxes: Councilmember Deb Jung noted that rising home valuations in Howard County are the top affordability complaint. MC Keegan-Air described Frederick County's new senior property tax credit (30% credit on first $500,000 assessed value for residents over 65 with income under $120,000). Discussion about the need to help seniors downsize without losing credits.
- Solar Energy: Councilmember David Yungmann raised confusion over HB 1036 (2025) regarding solar siting jurisdiction. Under 2 MW projects are not under PSC control; counties are uncertain about permissible regulation. Michael Sanderson noted state may pursue a cleanup bill. Frederick County is drafting legislation to address daisy-chaining of sub-2 MW projects and decommissioning.
- Blueprint for Education: State may consider delaying some mandates (e.g., collaborative time for teachers) or extending timelines. Analysis of blueprint outcomes due December 1, 2026. Some legislative champions lost in primaries, reducing protection for the original plan.
Reports
- Council Administrator: Certified two ballot questions (gender-neutral language, housing opportunities trust fund); data center task force recruitment underway; retreat scheduled for late August/early September; new board attorney Aaron Weiss; summer intern Will Flagg (Virginia Tech); next work session July 27; amendment pre-file July 27 at 2 p.m.; wrap-up session July 29.
- County Auditor: Completed audits of fire department and county single audit; exit audit for a former employee; draft report for Office of Transportation; ongoing audits for public works and fleet operations; summer intern Alison helping digitize work papers.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes or resolutions were adopted.
- Council members thanked MACo for its advocacy and insights.
- Next steps: Monitor state fiscal developments, consider local property tax relief options, and engage with state on solar siting clarification and blueprint adjustments.
Meeting Transcript
This webinar is being recorded and summarized. Good morning, everyone. This is the Council's July monthly meeting. The proceeding this morning is a hybrid meeting, which is held in person and via WebEx teleconference. It is also available to the public via video stream online on the county council website. This time I'm going to do a roll call for the council members. Mr. Youngman. Here. Miss Young. Here. I am Opal Jones, and we have a we will now proceed with our agenda. And today we are fortunate to have with us friends from the Maryland Association of Counties. We will have our annual Mako update. Come on up, please. Good morning. And Miss Young, since you're with us virtually, um, if you need to just jump in, just go ahead and jump on in to ask any questions. Good morning. Um my name is MC Keeganair. I am the current president of Mako. I am on the county council for Frederick County, Maryland. Um I have served with Mr. Youngman and Miss Young, uh, as well as Ms. Rigby, Miss Yeah, yeah, yeah, but just about everybody here on this board. Um because I've been um on the Maryland Association of Counties for 12 years now. Um but we uh, as you know, or many of you will know, uh, Mako does this road trip um every year. They go out um and the current president and Mr. Sanderson and sometimes other staff members go out and meet with county councils, uh county executives, boards of county commissioners from every county across the state and city of Baltimore to allow um Mr. Sanderson to give you an update on what's going on in Annapolis, what's going on in the federal government. Um, and then this is the part that I really love to allow um us to hear from you. What are you hearing that's hot with your constituents? What are the things that are concerning them? What are the things that keep them up at night or keep them from you know being able to relax? Uh so this is our opportunity to have a conversation with you and to really get that dialogue going that we might not have a chance to have that kind of uh opportunity while things are in session when the legislature is in session and everything is going 120 miles an hour. So um that's what we're here for. Um would love to hear from you. Um Deb, just chime in chime in whenever and take it away, Michael. HMC, I will. You know me. I do, I do. And it's good to see you. You as well. Uh good morning. My name is Michael Sanderson. I'm the executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties for your teaming millions of viewers online. Uh, we're a nonprofit organization that supports and assists and educates and informs our county leaders. Uh, we advocate on behalf of county services before the General Assembly, state agencies and so forth. And um I have a few things uh I'm hoping to get through, provided a packet of of information for the for the council members. Don't intend to go through that in a lot of detail. It's got some snapshots of our uh actions and activities throughout the legislative session uh earlier this year and and some issues that that Mako continues to focus on.
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