Howard County executive vetoes the nonprofit property grant bill, calling its $1.5 million threshold arbitrary
Calvin Ball said on Nov. 6 that Council Bill 58-2026, narrowed to county grants nonprofits use to buy or build, was aimed at one project. The council passed it 3 to 2; under the county charter it becomes law only if two thirds of the members vote for it again.
Ellicott City. Howard County Executive Calvin Ball on Nov. 6 vetoed a bill that would have set new conditions on county grants to nonprofits that buy, build on or redevelop property, writing that its $1.5 million threshold was arbitrary and that the bill was meant to target one project.
Council Bill 58-2026, by Council Member Deb Jung, passed the council 3 to 2 on Oct. 30, after amendments narrowed it from every county grant to capital grants alone, as the Herald reported Nov. 2. Mr. Ball also vetoed a bill on solar facilities on farmland.
Mr. Ball's objections
In a letter to the council's chair, Opel Jones, Mr. Ball wrote that the amended bill held more than 20 requirements for nonprofits receiving capital funding, among them long-term use agreements, significant matching funds from outside the county, financial guarantees or bonds, and repayment provisions, some of them only for grants above $1.5 million.
“It is unclear where the arbitrary threshold of $1.5 million originated, as well as why certain standards should be applied to capital grants of more than $1.5 million that would not be required of capital grants below $1.5 million.”
He wrote that the sponsor's remarks before the vote made clear the bill's true intention was to target a specific project the county had funded in prior fiscal years, although the bill as amended would not affect grants already awarded. The letter does not name the project. WMAR-TV reported in October that the bill was inspired by criticism of a $25 million county grant to Columbia Community Concepts to build a community center.
As examples of capital grants above $1.5 million, Mr. Ball listed $15 million to the Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical System for a 29-bed observation unit, $2 million to the Community Action Council of Howard County for land for a campus with a new food bank, more than $1.5 million to the Howard County Veterans Foundation for a monument at the Columbia Lakefront, and affordable housing grants.
He cited the Association of Community Services of Howard County, which testified that nobody the bill would affect had been involved in drafting it and asked for a study of the county's grant process instead. Mr. Ball wrote that he agreed with its recommendations.
What comes next
Under Section 209 of the county charter, the executive's objections are entered in the council's journal, and the council may reconsider the bill no later than at its next legislative session. The bill stands enacted only if two thirds of the council's members vote for it; it passed with three of five. CBS News Baltimore reported that the council passed both bills at its final session after eight years together.
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