A report on sewer service fees investigated a resident's question about the legitimacy of the fee "found no evidence this fee was properly authorized by City Council." Inquiries with city officials produced no actual franchise agreement.
The report made the point that, "While this type of franchise fee is not unusual in municipal governments, the lack of documentation makes it impossible to determine whether the fee is appropriate and reasonable without an agreement defining the terms for the franchise fee."
The report recommends that city officials analyze the issue and develop a franchise agreement between the sewer service and city government.
The second report released Sunday investigated a complaint that city officials had not established a sinking fund for telecommunications facilities, such as fixed, mobile, or transportable structures providing telecommunication services.
The reports notes that a sinking fund is required by city code to collect funds from telecommunication applicants, in order to cover the cost of removing telecommunication structures if they are abandoned within a prescribed period.
The report found that city officials instead created an internal sinking fund but that in 2012 the city attorney's office advised the city's Planning and Building Department to stop collecting the deposits "because the City was not collecting deposits for any other types of applicants." That fund now has a balance of $4.1 million but its only activity since 2012 has...
Moore has faced scrutiny for making false claims about his academic, military, and family backgrounds Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has embarked on a preemptive media campaign attacking his st...