MACo’s affiliate organization, the Maryland Association of County Budget and Finance Officers, met on October 16 to discuss a number of budget related topics.  Of particular interest was a county income tax case,  Maryland State Comptroller of the Treasury v. Brian Wynne, that was recently appealed to the Supreme Court for review.  The post on Conduit Street provides information on the case and access to the petition that was filed with the Supreme Court.  If the lower court’s decision stands, local governments could lose approximately $50 million a year in revenue.

Attendees also discussed a request for additional income tax data that has been sent to the Comptroller’s Office to assist counties with revenue projections, issues associated with Maintenance of Effort (MoE) calculations and the determination of non-recurring costs, and the determination of state-local cost share percentages for school construction projects.

MACo’s Legislative Director, Andrea Mansfield, briefed the group on MACo’s 2014 Legislative Initiatives and discussed changes to the “Research” section of MACo’s website aimed to provide better information and data of interest to the organization’s members.

For the next meeting of the affiliate, we will be joined by representatives from the Comptroller’s Office and the Department of Assessments and Taxation for the annual “revenue estimators” meeting.  The meeting will be held at MACo on Monday, January 7, 2014.