Dear Friends,
I hope you caught today’s news that Montgomery County has reached an agreement to acquire the White’s Ferry property on the Maryland side of the Potomac River. We’re purchasing about two and a half acres of riverfront land, which includes the ferry ramp, the store, and the boat launch, for $1.5 million. Chuck and Stacy Kuhn, who owned the operation, are donating the ferry boats and business equipment to the County at no cost, valued at over $7 million That is an extraordinarily generous contribution, and I want to thank them sincerely for it.
Anyone unfamiliar with the history of White’s Ferry may not know that it has been connecting Maryland and Virginia across the Potomac since 1786. It was carrying roughly 800 vehicles a day before it closed in December 2020 due to a legal dispute over landing rights on the Virginia side. That closure cut off a crossing that people and businesses in this region depended on, and it represented somewhere between $9 million and $13 million in annual economic impact.
Bringing this under public ownership is the right move. Once service resumes, the ferry will operate as a public service.
Getting it running again is not a done deal. The piece we still need to solve is on the Virginia side. We must work with officials and property owners in Loudoun County to restore landing rights across the river. We are committed to working diligently on those next steps. In the meantime, we’re going to move the vessels out of the water, assess their condition, and start whatever repairs are needed so we’re ready to go when the landing rights are in place.
This is a big step forward on something I’ve wanted to get done for a long time. We’re not across the finish line yet, but we’re closer than we’ve ever been and that’s a positive development for Poolesville and all of Montgomery County.
Data Center Moratorium to be Considered at Council Next Week
On Wednesday, the County Council’s Economic Development (ECON) committee advanced a bill to create an 18-month moratorium on the review of data centers. The effect of a legislative moratorium is like my Executive Order establishing a six-month moratorium on data center permits I signed a few weeks ago, and it will apply to the current proposed data center in Dickerson. The bill will proceed to the full Council for a work session and action on Tuesday, July 28.
Separately, the Planning, Housing, and Parks Committee considered ZTA 26-01. This ZTA is important because it will help define what a data center is (thereby eliminating confusion) and close the kinds of loopholes that would allow companies to skirt any new regulations. Establishing clear definitions of what data centers are and which kinds are allowed here will help set the reasonable limits we need.
We are awaiting both local and state analyses to make the best decisions about data centers. I look forward to seeing that information in the coming weeks so we can continue pursuing the right policies for Montgomery County before any permits are finalized.
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The Problem with the “Control Montgomery County Spending” Campaign
This week, a group led by the former chair of the Montgomery County Republican Party delivered petition signatures to trigger a referendum on a change to our County Charter – the equivalent of our constitution. I want to respond directly to the “Control Montgomery County Spending” campaign’s proposal to cap County spending increases at the rate of general inflation, because I think people deserve an honest explanation of what that would mean for Montgomery County.
Their proposal ignores a basic economic reality: the cost of building and maintaining comprehensive public services and infrastructure has nothing to do with general inflation. It’s a completely different number — and right now, thanks in large part to the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, construction costs are significantly higher than the 3.5% annual inflation rate reported in June.
To have the same purchasing power for infrastructure that we had back in fiscal year (FY) 2009, the County would need to issue more than $550 million in bonds annually. We’re currently capped at around $300 million. We’re already behind and are only building about half as much as we could have built less than 20 years ago. Tying us to the consumer price index (CPI) wouldn’t keep spending steady. Instead, it would lock in chronic underinvestment and guarantee we never catch up. If you wanted to sink Montgomery County, this would be a strategy to do that.
The most immediate victims of this kind of cap would be our kids. The Board of Education has a $3.72 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2027, and we all know that’s less than what was requested to begin addressing our aging school buildings. A hard spending cap means students remain in obsolete facilities that cost more to maintain each year. That’s not fiscal responsibility. That’s just kicking the can down the road.
It also puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Everybody bemoans our competitors in Northern Virginia for using aggressive funding models, including special taxing districts, to advance transportation and infrastructure. This would leave us with our hands tied behind our backs.
The argument that this saves money is backward. When you delay replacing aging HVAC systems, roofs, and electrical infrastructure, you don’t save money. You end up spending dramatically more on maintenance for systems that should have been replaced years ago. Our current spending plan is designed to systematically replace those systems, which will lower operating costs over time through improved energy efficiency.
We also have real public safety needs that can’t wait — a new Justice Center, a White Flint Fire Station, a replacement for our outdated 4th District Police Station, and the replacement of more than 1,300 units of body armor that are reaching the end of their service life. A rigid spending cap puts all of that at risk.
Think of the things that residents, businesses, and the County have jointly experienced: rising electricity costs with no connection to inflation that we have to pay, escalating food costs in our schools and for our programs that feed people in need which have risen beyond inflation, fuel costs for all County vehicles, including our buses and school buses, also exceeding inflation. Also consider the cost shifts from the State to the County and from the federal government to the County (including no FEMA funding for damage from natural events). All this raises the cost of government. They are add-ons that wind up starving funding for other programs.
The potential ballot proposal is fiscally irresponsible and would diminish the County’s ability to serve and protect its residents and educate our children. And just to put it in perspective, the County does not have a runaway tax rate. I will continue to share my favorite slide (above) that shows how every one of our surrounding Maryland jurisdictions has property taxes that exceed ours:
- Frederick is $1.1.
- Howard is $1.33.
- Prince George’s is $1.37.
The only neighboring jurisdiction with a lower residential property tax rate than ours is the District of Columbia, where the residential tax rate is 85 cents, and the City of Philadelphia, where the residential tax rate is 90 cents. Their commercial tax rates start at $1.66 and go up to $1.89. Locking ourselves into a tax policy that ensures we will have fewer resources to address our needs will put us at a competitive disadvantage relative to other jurisdictions whose tax rates are designed to meet the needs of their communities – not just social service needs, but also transportation and economic investment.
The County is in the strongest fiscal position we’ve been in in a long time. After years of restraint, our debt service ratio has finally decreased to close to the 10% policy guideline for the first time in 15 years. That took discipline and time to build. We now have the capacity to address longstanding deficits while still protecting our AAA credit rating. An arbitrary cap would ignore that carefully built strength and prevent us from using it when our community needs it most.
I understand the impulse behind “control the spending.” Nobody wants to waste, including me. But a blunt cap tied to general inflation is not fiscal discipline. We’d end up paying more in the long run and shortchanging the residents who depend on County services every day.
Election Wrap Up
I want to thank Board of Elections president David Naimon and board member Larry Halloran for returning to my media briefing this week to look back at the primary election and forward to November’s election cycle.
Despite the unfounded allegations our president leveled against the State of Maryland after mail-in ballots were replaced due to a vendor error, our elections ran as they usually do, in a sound and orderly manner
And speaking of the president, his effort to discredit our election process continues. There was that speech he gave last week claiming that declassified documents shed light on election vulnerabilities. His continued efforts to obtain voter rolls and limit who can legally participate in elections are blatant attempts to control the results. That’s not something that we will allow to happen locally or in Maryland.
We have a bipartisan effort that works to uphold our fair and transparent elections. Learn more by visiting 777vote.org: get involved as an election judge, ensure you’re registered to vote in November, or request a mail-in ballot.
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Neighborhood Speed Limits Lowered Across County
It has been a tragic year for too many local families who have seen loved ones killed on our roads. There have been 26 fatal crashes, including nine pedestrians, in 2026. That is why we are working across the County to make our roads safer and working towards our Vision Zero goal of ending serious injury and fatal crashes.
Since July 2025, the County’s Department of Transportation has reduced speed limits on 33 roads, primarily in residential areas. This builds on our broader effort, which has led to speed limit reductions on more than 250 neighborhood streets since 2021. These changes are possible thanks to state legislation, House Bill 562, which allows us to set limits as low as 20 miles per hour (mph)and in some rare cases, 15 mph—on local roadways.
Lowering speed limits is an essential step in changing the culture of our neighborhood roads. Our streets should be community spaces where residents feel safe walking their dogs, going for a run, or riding a bike. This is especially vital during the summer months when more children are outdoors playing. The data from the Maryland Highway Safety Office is undeniable: 30 mph is four times more deadly to pedestrians than 20 mph — a 40% chance of serious injury or death, versus just 10%.
Our efforts aren’t limited to neighborhood streets; we are also partnering with the Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration to lower speeds on some sections of major corridors by the end of August.
Rockville
- Darnestown Road from Key West Avenue (Maryland Route 28) to West Montgomery Avenue (Maryland Route 28)
- New speed limit: 35 mph
- Great Seneca Highway from Maryland Route 28 (Key West Avenue) to Darnestown Road
- New speed limit: 35 mph
North Bethesda
- Josiah Henson Parkway/Montrose Road from Maryland Route 187 to Tower Oak Boulevard.
- New speed limit: 35 mph
- Josiah Henson Parkway from Towne Road to Montrose Road
- New speed limit: 35 mph
Silver Spring
- 13th Street from Eastern Avenue, NW to Maryland Route 29 (Georgia Avenue)
- New speed limit: 25 mph
Beyond signs, MCDOT is implementing traffic-calming features like speed bumps, curb extensions, and safe crossings, which have been shown to reduce pedestrian crashes by 44%.
Requests from residents like you drive the majority of these neighborhood speed reductions. If you believe your street needs a traffic engineering investigation for a speed limit reduction, I encourage you to reach out to our team at TrafficOps@montgomerycountymd.gov. By slowing down, we can prevent tragedies and save lives.
Saying Goodbye to Summer RISE Students
This week, our government said goodbye to dozens of high school students embedded across multiple departments through the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Summer RISE (Reimagining an Innovative Student Experience) program. This is an annual summer rite that gives high schoolers invaluable career-based learning opportunities.
I met kids with aspirations of becoming doctors, lawyers, and computer scientists. I am confident they learned a lot from our employees and saw how beneficial a public servant job can be to our community.
I want to thank Councilmember Will Jawando for his help launching this program, which now has more than 1,000 students participating each summer. I also want to thank MCPS for continuing to work with the private sector to find internship opportunities that can help shape the future for so many of our kids.
I hope these students share their experiences with their friends and family, so it continues to inspire participation. We have come a long way from hosting our first interns in 2017. The more companies participate, the easier it is to share something meaningful with eager minds. I want to keep this momentum going, so that today’s Summer RISE students become tomorrow’s employers, ones who remember what it felt like to sit on the other side of the desk
We all have a responsibility to show young people the way to succeed, and I encourage more companies and organizations to get involved. I hope we’ve been able to provide a meaningful experience for all our Summer RISE participants, one they remember for years to come.
Weekend Reminders
I want to touch on a few events to help remind the public about what’s going on locally:
- This is Maryland Buy Local Week and it continues through Monday, July 27. Everyone is encouraged to buy local, from produce to meat to beverages, to dining out at restaurants that are committed to buying local ingredients. There is even a contest that the State is holding right now for photography and food lovers, based on buying local. Visit marylandsbest.maryland.gov to learn more.to learn more.
- That leads perfectly into the Annual Farm Tour and Harvest Sale happening this Saturday and Sunday, July 26-27. Anyone can explore participating farms located across the County. Take a self-guided tour or use the Visit Montgomery Adventure Planner App to guide you along the way. The tour is free and a great way to learn more about our Agricultural Reserve and the businesses that thrive there.
- Tickets for the Taste of Burtonsville are on sale now. Starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 25, you can experience the flavors of Burtonsville at what promises to be a delicious event. Ten restaurants are participating, and in addition to food, there will be live music and family entertainment in store. The East County Regional Services Center and the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce are hosting the event in the parking lot behind Restaurant 198, 15540 Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville. Don’t miss the opportunity to visit Burtonsville and support local restaurant owners.
As always, my appreciation for all of you,
County Executive
Read the original article at mcgov