Post Letter: Montgomery County government’s culture of secrecy

By Thomas Dagley, Published: September 23

In Montgomery County, senior management in government and the county attorney’s office have grown too accustomed to operating behind closed doors and avoiding the tough questions.This conclusion is based on my six years as Montgomery County’s inspector general. This approach to governing hurts taxpayers by diminishing the ability of oversight organizations such as the inspector general’s office, the ethics commission and the Merit Systems Protection Board to do their jobs. The result has been growing suspicion by residents and county workers of unchecked wrongdoing within government. The lack of transparency can only get worse if some things don’t change... 

...The main remedy must come from the Maryland General Assembly. State lawmakers should amend the Maryland Public Information Act to give municipal inspectors general access to the records, including those that are “confidential,” of any state or local government unit, or of another body that receives public funds, with respect to any matter under that inspector general’s jurisdiction. Taking this simple step is necessary to increase government transparency in Maryland. But even with such a law, other changes need to happen, at least in Rockville. Montgomery County would benefit from a cultural change that encourages residents and employees to ask tough questions on difficult issues — and forces leaders to answer...

Them That's Got: Double Dipping in MoCo

Here is an interesting editorial in today's Washington Examiner.  Ever wonder why your taxes don't go quite far enough here in progressive Montgomery County? This could provide an answer.  Thanks to the editors of the Washington Examiner for covering our county so well.

Examiner Local Editorial: Montgomery County and double-dipping developers

One reason Montgomery County is in such deep financial straits is that it has been overpaying developers, including $3.7 million for the same Germantown pumping station and water main for which they were also reimbursed by the Washington Suburban Sanitary District, according to a Feb. 15 interim report by county Inspector General Thomas Dagley. In 2005, at the beginning of the project, WSSC said it would reimburse the developers even though the project was being financed with tax-exempt Montgomery County bonds. However, an unnamed official in the county's Finance Department refused to issue an assignment letter to WSSC. And when Dagley's office later asked for documentation to support the cash payments, "OIG was not provided any purchase orders, invoices, or other detailed financial records by MCG Department of Finance that supported the developers' requests for reimbursements as required by MCG procedures."

Read more at the Washington Examiner here.