THE GAZETTE
Page A-12
GARDEN
Continued from Page A-1 cause the narrow roads in their Seven Oaks Evanswood community couldn’t handle the thousands of visitors Kerr expected to visit her free display. On Nov. 5, Mitchell is scheduled to hear a request to close the display permanently. At issue is whether the home-based Halloween display on Worth Avenue was simply a fun way to celebrate the holiday or a real estate marketing effort in disguise. “I’m feeling good. It is a great night,” Kerr said Friday. Outside, two people controlled how many visitors could
COUNCIL
Continued from Page A-1 she hopes the county will be able to do more in the future in other areas. “I’m fine with this solution, but I’m hopeful we can do better in the coming years depending on the resources available,” Floreen said. Council Vice President Craig
BUDGET
Continued from Page A-1 growth in the last six years. “While the growth is most dramatic in the DCC, we’re also seeing enormous elementary enrollment growth across the district,” he said. The downcounty elementary schools with planned addition projects include: Brookhaven, Glen Haven, Kemp Mill, Sargent Shriver and Highland. The other schools where addition projects are planned include Ashburton, Lucy V. Barnsley, Burtonsville, Diamond, Kensington-Parkwood, Christa McAuliffe and Judith Resnik elementary schools; North Bethesda Middle School; and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013 s
enter the garden at a time and two were in the back of the garden helping people leave the garden. More Haunted Garden staff were on the street directing traffic. Volunteers also were spread around the backyard to help visitors during their tour. A police officer, paid for by Kerr, was at the corner of Worth and Franklin avenues, helping pedestrians cross the street. “We have our guys out there. People are doing their jobs. It is organized,” said Rania Peet, the artist behind the garden’s creations. Julia Horton, 7, visited the display with friends and said her favorite part was “the guy in the electric chair” because “it
was creepy and cool.” The garden had a kids’ corner with a haunted playground. A 12-year-old actress portraying a dead child welcomed little ones, asking if they wanted to play with her. Visitors also saw a werewolf coming from behind the trees, a witch looking for “extra special” children’s hair for her magic potion, and a man just out of an electric chair. At the end of the experience, guests could stop to have their picture taken. The Haunted Garden has been the subject of a battle between neighbors in recent weeks. “Thanks to the county and judge’s ruling, and the county’s
efforts including fire [marshal] and police, there was a large county effort to make this a safe event,” Jean Cavanaugh, the president of the Seven Oaks-Evanswood Citizens’ Association, which is not involved in the court case, wrote in an email to The Gazette. Cavanaugh added that on Saturday, there was a line of 150 people, and she “witnessed a few children darting into the street from behind parked cars.” “Again, we have no quarrel with Halloween decorations or neighborhood parties,” Cavanaugh wrote. “The haunted garden is fun, people like it, kids like it. Public events of this magnitude and duration, how-
ever, do not belong in a residential neighborhood.” County officials had shut down the display with a temporary restraining order issued Oct. 4, saying the display violated the county’s residential zoning code and caused a public safety hazard. Mitchell’s ruling allowed the event to continue, but with limited days and hours. James Savage, an assistant county attorney, said in court that Kerr sent fliers to an estimated 12,000 households promoting the Haunted Garden. But Mitchell did not consider the event to be commercial. Diane Schwartz Jones,
director of the Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services, said she received complaints about traffic, cars parked on lawns, and children darting out on the street this year. “It is a fun activity ... but it is not a good location for this activity,” said Schwartz Jones. She said she sent an inspector for each night, and they reported more than 250 vehicles crossing the intersection between 6:30 and 9 p.m., plus a lot of pedestrian traffic. “The fact that no one was hurt is a good thing but the right thing is to correctly apply the law,” Schwartz Jones said.
Rice (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown said he’d like to see the county take a more comprehensive approach. The income supplement itself won’t lift anyone out of poverty, and with many federal programs facing cuts, the county will have to do more, Rice said. Maryland residents can claim a credit for up to half of their federal earned income tax credit, and a refund of up to one
quarter of the federal credit, according to a county release. In 2000, Montgomery started matching 100 percent of the Maryland refund to help residents afford the high costof-living in the county. But a bill passed in 2010 allowed the council to set the county income supplement at less than 100 percent of the state refundable credit by passing a resolution each year.
In fiscal 2011, the county supplement was set at 72.5 percent, 68.9 percent in fiscal 2012 and 75.5 percent in fiscal 2013. In May, the council approved an increase in the supplement to 85 percent of the state refundable credit for fiscal 2014. The bill passed Tuesday requires the county supplement to increase to 90 percent in fiscal 2015, 95 percent in fiscal 2016 and 100 percent in fiscal 2017
and beyond. According to an analysis by the county’s Finance Office, the funding increase in fiscal 2015 will cost the county an additional $1.016 million. In fiscal 2011, 33,840 Montgomery residents qualified for the supplement, receiving an average of $381.81, according to the county. Restoring the county match to 100 percent would provide an extra $124 per person.
To qualify for the earned income tax credit for the tax year 2013, a resident with three or more qualifying children must make less than $46,227, or $51,567 if filing jointly with a spouse. A taxpayer with no qualifying children must make less than $14,340 or $19,680 if filing jointly.
Other previously approved elementary- and secondaryschool capacity projects are scheduled to stay on target in the program. The projects include classroom additions; new elementary schools to serve the Clarksburg, Northwest and Richard Montgomery clusters; and new middle schools to serve the Clarksburg/Damascus and Bethesda-Chevy Chase clusters. About $725 million — or about 47 percent — is recommended for “revitalizations/ expansions.” “The schools built in the ’60s and ’70s, the ones we’re replacing now, were not built to last,” Starr said. “We see that across the county and renovating them is not cost efficient.” Starr said the recommended plan includes more than two dozen such projects, adding
about 118 classrooms throughout the system. The plan, however, pushes back the timeline of 20 of those projects. Elementary school projects would see a one-year delay. Middle and high school projects would see a two-year delay. “We know that so many of our school communities are impacted by the delay,” Starr said. “They’ve been waiting for many years for their aging schools to be replaced.” The plan proposes that six revitalization/expansion projects continue with their current completion dates. They include Bel Pre, Candlewood and Rock Creed Forest elementary schools; Wheaton and Seneca Valley high schools; and the Thomas Edison High School of Technology. If the state provides more
funding, Starr said, it may be possible for some projects to return to their original schedule. The recommended program also directs about $283 million toward systemic projects that include security upgrades and HVAC, roof and door replacements. Starr said it’s “starting to show” that the school system has not put budgeted enough in recent years for infrastructure needs. “We’ve been skimping on that because we’ve had to fund so many other things,” he said. Starr said he is asking for an increase of $28 million in both fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2016 to put toward the school system’s backlog of HVAC replacement projects. He added that further investments will need to be made “down the road.”
About $155 million was recommended for technology modernization projects such as new computers. The county school board is scheduled hold a work session on the plan Nov. 7 and two public hearings on Nov. 11 and 14 before it is expected to approve Starr’s request Nov. 18. The program request then moves to County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and the County Council. School board President Christopher S. Barclay said the work session will mark a chance for the board to start asking questions. “Capacity is the biggest issue that we have,” Barclay said. “We have got to figure out how to address this.” Highland Elementary Principal Scott Steffan said the addition planned for his school in the proposed program hopefully will enable the school to accommodate its students without needing to add portable classrooms. “I don’t have an open space anywhere. We’ve really felt the impact (of enrollment growth) this year,” he said. “For us to
have the addition is tremendous.” Lynne Harris — vice president for legislation for the Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations — said her son attends Highland View Elementary School in Silver Spring, which is scheduled to undergo an expansion project but at an undetermined time. While she is disappointed as a Highland View parent that her school will not see construction soon, she said, she sees that there are needs at every school and the school system’s capital budget requires “tough choices.” Harris said the school system needs state funds more proportionate to the number of students it serves. Montgomery County students are getting a good education, Harris said, but the school system has to figure out where to put the growing number of students. “What are we going to do?” she said. “Put them on the roof?”
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