“We’ve been carrying a lot of debt for a long time,” Rice said, adding the County needs to go on a diet on how much it borrows

...“The bottom line is that’s a school you can’t just (put a) band-aid easily,” Kloblukowski said.
He said Wheaton, Damascus, Magruder and Wootton are in similar situations because MCPS’ Superintendent removed them from the MCPS CIP.
“Capacity is a lousy excuse for not taking care of business,” Kloblukowski said, at which point many of the 35 audience members broke into applause.
Rice said Poolesville High School, which MCPS Superintendent Smith temporarily shelved from construction (according to his proposed six-year capital improvements plan for MCPS) will not likely earn an expensive capital construction project soon due to how the school board and county select capital projects to fund. The issue is MCPS long-range planning department did not project overcrowding issues (more than 120 percent of the number of students it can hold) for the school in the next six years.
Rice said Poolesville High School – already one of the older buildings in the county – is at a disadvantage because MCPS does not project significant enrollment increases there.
“Normally a lot of our schools that are aged – are also aged and have a capacity issue,” Rice said.
Kloblukowski said the superintendent seemed to be unfairly favoring overcrowded schools to schools that are old...

http://www.thesentinel.com/mont/news/local/item/6071-rice-says-debt-school-capacity-problems-and-purple-line-influencing-county-cip

The county’s Board of Education, however, is urging the council to instead raise the spending affordability guidelines.

Montgomery County is looking to lower its spending guidelines to reduce its growing debt-service payments, which this year are estimated to cost $394 million on $3.5 billion in bonded debt.

The debt service that Montgomery County is paying is growing at a rate that could affect the county’s AAA bond rating, according to County Executive Ike Leggett.

The County Council sets spending affordability guidelines every two years to determine what bonds the county can financially withstand to pay for long-term capital projects, such as school construction.

The current guidelines enable the county to issue $340 million in bonds per year.

In a memo to the council on Tuesday, Leggett wrote that that figure is too high...

http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2017/As-Debt-Service-Payments-Grow-County-Council-Looks-To-Limit-New-Capital-Bonds/