The following enumerated express powers are granted to and
conferred upon any county or counties which hereafter form a charter
under the provisions of Article XI-A of the Constitution, that is to
say:
(A)
(1) To enact local laws for the county, including the power to repeal or
amend local laws of the county enacted by the General Assembly upon the
matters covered by the express powers in this article.
(2) To provide for the enforcement of all ordinances, resolutions, bylaws
and regulations adopted under the authority of this article by fines,
penalties and imprisonment, enforceable according to law as may be
prescribed. A penalty may not exceed $1,000 for any offense, unless
otherwise authorized in this subsection, or provide for imprisonment
for more than six months.
(3) To provide for the enforcement of local fair housing laws by fines or
penalties that do not exceed the fines or penalties provided in the
federal Fair Housing Act Amendments of 1988 for enforcement of similar
federal fair housing laws.
(4) To provide for the enforcement of local employment discrimination laws
or public accommodations discrimination laws by fines or penalties that
do not exceed $5,000 for any offense.
(5) To provide for enforcement of all ordinances, resolutions, bylaws, and
regulations adopted under the authority of this article by civil fines
and penalties.
(B)
To provide for the protection of the county property; to provide
for the acquisition by purchase, lease, or otherwise, and condemnation
of property required for public purposes in the county; to dispose of
any real or leasehold property belonging to the county, provided the
same is no longer needed for public use; to provide for the financing
of any housing or housing project in whole or in part, including the
placement of a deed of trust, mortgage, or other instrument upon the
property to ensure repayment of funds used to purchase, construct,
rehabilitate, or otherwise develop the housing project; to grant any
franchise or right to use the same, or any right or franchise in
relation to any highway, street, road, lanes, alley or bridge; to grant
one or more exclusive or nonexclusive franchises for a community
antenna system or other cable television system that utilizes any
public right-of-way, highway, street, road, lane, alley, or bridge,
to impose franchise fees, and to establish rates, rules, and
regulations for franchises granted; and to provide for the leasing as
lessor to the State or any political subdivision or other agency
thereof, or to any county agency, or to any person, any property
belonging to the county or any agency thereof, in furtherance of the
public purposes of such county or agency, upon such terms and
compensation as said county may deem proper, and after such
disposition, grant or lease shall have been advertised once a week for
three successive weeks in one or more newspapers of general circulation
published in said county, stating the terms thereof and the
compensation to be received therefor, and giving opportunity for
objections thereto. Provided, however, that easements for public
utilities may be granted without advertisement.
(C)
To erect, establish, maintain and control hospitals, almshouses,
pesthouses or other similar institutions within the county, and make
all regulations for the government and conduct of the same; to erect,
establish and maintain courthouses; to establish, maintain, regulate
and control county jails, and county houses of correction or detention
and reformatories, and to regulate all persons confined therein; to
make proper provision for female and juvenile offenders.
(D)
To provide for county advertising, printing and publishing,
including that of all ordinances, bylaws or resolutions adopted by the
county council and of annual statements of expenses of the county
government.
(E)
To audit the accounts of all county officers, assisting the
Legislative Auditor or other State officer clothed with authority in
the performance of this duty; to provide for proof of all claims
against the county before their payment.
(F)
To provide for competitive bidding for any county work and the
making and awarding of contracts requiring bonds whenever proper. To
also provide for the purchase of materials, supplies, and equipment
through the Purchasing Bureau of the State Department of General
Services whenever desirable.
(G)
(1) To provide, as far as necessary, for the draining of swamp and
lowlands.
(2) With regard to a redetermination as to which lands continue to benefit
from a prior drainage improvement project:
(i) At the request of the board of managers of a drainage association, the
county council shall appoint a board of viewers to determine if the
original determination as to which lands have benefited from the
improvements has changed;
(ii) The board of viewers shall have the same qualifications, rights,
powers, privileges, and duties as the original board of viewers;
(iii) The board of viewers shall report its findings to the county council.
The report shall be considered in the same manner as the original
report, including the same right to a public hearing and the right to
judicial review; and
(iv) Any revision in the original determination as to which lands benefit
from the improvements shall become the basis for all future assessments
for paying for the improvements, including related expenses such as
damages, and the maintenance of the improvements.
(H)
To rearrange and create election districts and precincts.
(I)
To provide for recording, indexing and keeping indexed all
records in the office of the clerk of the court, register of wills and
of the records of the commissioners and county council to the extent
that such matters are not provided for by general law.
(J)
To prevent, abate and remove nuisances; to prevent the
introduction of contagious diseases into such county; and to regulate
the places of manufacturing soap and candles and fertilizers,
slaughterhouses, packinghouses, canneries, factories, workshops, mines,
manufacturing plants and any and all places where offensive trades may
be carried on, or which may involve or give rise to unsanitary
conditions or conditions detrimental to health.
Nothing in this article or section contained shall be construed
to affect in any manner any of the powers and duties of either the
Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene or the Secretary of the
Environment or any public general laws of the State relating to the
subject of health.
(K)
To provide for grading, shelling, graveling, paving and curbing,
or for regrading, reshelling, regraveling, repaving, recurbing and
repairing any street, road, lane, alley, footway, bridge, culvert,
highway or public place within said county, or any part thereof, now or
hereafter condemned, ceded, opened, widened, extended or straightened
as public property; and for assessing the cost of any such work upon
the assessable basis of the county; to compel by fine or penalty the
owner or possessor of any lot to grade, regrade, pave, repave or repair
the footways in front thereof; to regulate the opening of street
surfaces.
(L)
To regulate the conditions under which dogs, cows, sheep, pigs,
cattle and livestock of any and every kind may be at large, or may pass
over the streets, roads, alleys, lanes, bridges, highways and public
places.
(M)
To pass local fish and game laws.
(N)
To regulate the making and keeping secure of fences and provide
for the procedure to enforce the rights of the parties, and a lien for
repairs, made by an owner not in default.
(O)
To direct the class or subclass of improvements on land and
personal property which shall be made subject to the county tax levy,
and to provide for the levy thereupon and upon the value of land in
accordance with Article 15 of the Declaration of Rights of the
Constitution of Maryland as amended, of any sum which may be necessary
to pay and discharge the principal and interest of any loan which may
heretofore have been obtained, or which may hereafter be obtained by
such county, according to law, and to create a sinking fund to meet the
liabilities thus incurred, and levy upon the property so subject to
taxation from time to time such sums as may be necessary to provide
therefor; as well as to collect from such property so subject to the
levy such sums as may be necessary for the support and maintenance of
the county government.
To provide for the prompt collection of all taxes due the county;
and for the sale of real estate, as well as leasehold and personal
property, for the payment of the same.
To rectify errors in the assessment of property; to provide for
the reduction or abatement of assessments improperly made, and for the
reimbursement of moneys paid in consequence of such errors.
To levy and collect taxes for the organization, operation,
maintenance of libraries, fire and ambulance services, and other
municipal services and to authorize the purchase, sale, construction,
maintenance, and operation of all real and personal property necessary
or incidental to such services, and to establish, modify, amend and
abolish special taxing areas for any of the purposes enumerated in this
article, except that nothing herein contained shall be construed to
permit the modification or abolition of existing special taxing areas
performing municipal services, (other than furnishing fire protection
or library service) and governed or administered by a citizen's
committee or a commission elected or appointed independently of the
county council.
To levy and collect taxes to provide for the payment of
additional retirement or disability benefits to such former employees
of the county as may, in the opinion of the county council, be entitled
to receive such additional benefits.
(P)
(1) To provide for the borrowing of moneys on the faith and credit of the
county and for the issuance of bonds or other evidences of indebtedness
therefor in such sums, for such purposes, on such terms and payable at
such times, and from such taxes or other sources as may have been or
may be provided by or pursuant to local law, subject to any limitations
imposed by the charter adopted by the county and to the following
limitations:
(i) The aggregate amount of bonds and other evidences of indebtedness
outstanding at any one time shall not exceed a total of 6 percent of
the assessable basis of real property of the county and 15 percent of
the county's assessable basis of personal property and operating real
property described in § 8-109(c) of the Tax - Property Article of
the county, except that (a) tax anticipation notes or other evidences
of indebtedness having a maturity not in excess of 12 months, (b) bonds
or other evidences of indebtedness issued or guaranteed by the county
payable primarily or exclusively from taxes levied in or on, or other
revenues of, special taxing areas or districts heretofore or hereafter
established by law, and (c) bonds or other evidences of indebtedness
issued for self-liquidating and other projects payable primarily or
exclusively from the proceeds of assessments or charges for special
benefits or services, shall not be subject to, or be included as bonds
or evidences of indebtedness in computing or applying, the limitations
established in this section.
(ii) Any local law authorizing the borrowing of money or issuance of bonds
or other evidences of indebtedness shall be submitted to the registered
voters of the county for approval or rejection, if a petition for such
submission is filed pursuant to the provisions of the charter and local
laws of the county. If the charter contains no such provisions, any
local law authorizing the borrowing of money or issuance of bonds or
other evidences of indebtedness shall be submitted to the registered
voters of the county for approval or rejection, if a petition for such
submission, bearing the signatures of 10 per centum or more of such
voters, is filed with the board of supervisors of elections of the
county within 75 days after the enactment of such local law.
(2) To provide for the issuance of bonds or other obligations payable as to
principal and interest and premium, if any, solely from the funds or
revenues received from or in connection with any system, project, or
undertaking, all or part of which is financed from the proceeds of such
bonds or obligations. Bonds or obligations issued under this paragraph
do not constitute an indebtedness of the county or a pledge of its
faith and credit or taxing power, may be sold at private (negotiated)
sale, and are not subject to the limitations of paragraph (1) of this
subsection, Article 31, §§ 10 and 11 of the Code, or any provision of
the issuing county's charter. Nothing in this paragraph shall be
construed as a limitation on the power of a county to issue revenue
bonds under the provision of any other applicable law.
(3) The bonds, notes, and any other evidences of obligation issued under
this section, their transfer, the interest payable on them, and any
income derived from them, including any profit realized in their sale
or exchange, shall be exempt at all times from every kind and nature of
taxation by this State, or by any of its political subdivisions,
municipal corporations or public agencies of any kind.
(Q)
(1) To provide for the appointment and removal of all county officers
except those whose appointment or election is provided for by the
Constitution or public general law, and to establish a merit system, if
deemed desirable, in connection with the appointment of all county
officials and employees not elected or appointed under the Constitution
and the public general laws; to fix the qualifications and term of
office of such county executive authority as may be established, and to
fix its compensation; provided that the county council may enact local
laws designed to prevent conflicts between the private interests and
public duties of any county officers, including members of the county
council, and to govern the conduct and actions of all such county
officers in the performance of their public duties, and to provide for
penalties, including removal from office, for violation of any such
laws or the regulations adopted thereunder.
(2) To provide for the conduct of a special election to fill a vacancy in
the county council that occurs upon the death or resignation of a
member of the county council or on forfeiture of office by a member of
the county council.
(R)
To prevent the credit of the county in any manner being given or
loaned to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation.
(S)
To pass any ordinance facilitating the amendment of the county
charter by vote of the electors of the county and agreeable to Article
XI-A of the Constitution.
The foregoing or other enumeration of powers in this article
shall not be held to limit the power of the county council, in addition
thereto, to pass all ordinances, resolutions or bylaws, not
inconsistent with the provisions of this article or the laws of the
State, as may be proper in executing and enforcing any of the powers
enumerated in this section or elsewhere in this article, as well as
such ordinances as may be deemed expedient in maintaining the peace,
good government, health and welfare of the county.
Provided, that the powers herein granted shall only be exercised
to the extent that the same are not provided for by public general law;
provided, however, that no power to legislate shall be given with
reference to licensing, regulating, prohibiting or submitting to local
option, the manufacture or sale of malt or spirituous liquors.
(T)
To enact local laws enabling the county council to adopt from
time to time, after reasonable notice and opportunity for public
hearing and with or without modifications, ordinances and amendments
thereof for the protection and promotion of public safety, health,
morals, comfort and welfare, relating to any of the following: the
location, construction, repair, and use of streets and highways; the
disposal of wastes; the control of problems of soil erosion and of the
preservation of the natural topography in newly developed and other
areas; and the erection, construction, repair and use of buildings and
other structures; and to enact local laws providing appropriate
administrative and judicial proceedings, remedies, and sanctions for
the administration and enforcement of such ordinances and amendments.
(U)
To enact local laws providing (1) for the establishment of a
county board of appeals whose members shall be appointed by the county
council; (2) for the number, qualifications, terms, and compensation of
the members; (3) for the adoption by the board of rules of practice
governing its proceedings; and (4) for the decision by the board on
petition by any interested person and after notice and opportunity for
hearing and on the basis of the record before the board, of such of the
following matters arising (either originally or on review of the action
of an administrative officer or agency) under any law, ordinance, or
regulation of, or subject to amendment or repeal by, the county
council, as shall be specified from time to time by such local laws
enacted under this subsection: An application for a zoning variation or
exception or amendment of a zoning ordinance map; the issuance,
renewal, denial, revocation, suspension, annulment, or modification of
any license, permit, approval, exemption, waiver, certificate,
registration, or other form of permission or of any adjudicatory order;
and the assessment of any special benefit tax: Provided, that upon any
decision by a county board of appeals it shall file an opinion which
shall include a statement of the facts found and the grounds for its
decision. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the board and a party
to the proceeding before it may appeal to the circuit court for the
county which shall have power to affirm the decision of the board, or
if such decision is not in accordance with law, to modify or reverse
such decision, with or without remanding the case for rehearing as
justice may require. Any party to the proceeding in the circuit court
aggrieved by the decision of the court may appeal from the decision to
the Court of Special Appeals in the same manner as provided for in
civil cases.
(V)
To enact local laws providing for the development and
administration of a comprehensive recreational program including the
construction, equipment and use of park, community center, and
recreational buildings and facilities, the acquisition of sites
therefor, including financial support for artistic, musical, and
cultural public and private nonprofit organizations and activities, and
the furnishing of recreational and other municipal services in
connection therewith; and to exercise any power or authority conferred
by the provisions of Article 25 of this Code, in the subtitle "Public
Recreation and Parks".
(W)
To enact local laws providing for the creation of a storm
drainage district or districts and the levying of taxes therein, the
financing, construction and maintenance of storm drainage projects, and
the regulation of storm drainage facilities.
(X)
(1) (i) To enact local laws, for the protection and promotion of public safety,
health, morals, and welfare, relating to zoning and planning,
including:
1. The power to provide for the right of appeal of any matter arising
under such planning and zoning laws to the circuit court, except as is
provided in § 5(U) of this article. Any decision of the circuit court
may be appealed to the Court of Special Appeals; and
2. The power to establish a program for the transfer of development
rights.
(ii) To provide by ordinance that a violation of a zoning law or regulation
enacted under this section may be a civil zoning violation. The
violation shall be enforced as provided in Article 66B, § 7.02 of the
Code.
(2) (i) It has been and shall continue to be the policy of this State that the
orderly development and use of land and structures requires
comprehensive regulation through implementation of planning and zoning
controls.
(ii) It has been and shall continue to be the policy of this State that
planning and zoning controls shall be implemented by local government.
(iii) To achieve the public purposes of this regulatory scheme, the General
Assembly recognizes that local government action will displace or limit
economic competition by owners and users of property.
(iv) It is the policy of the General Assembly and of this State that
competition and enterprise shall be so displaced or limited for the
attainment of the purposes of the State policy for implementing
planning and zoning controls as set forth in this article and elsewhere
in the public local and public general law.
(v) The powers granted to the county pursuant to this paragraph shall not
be construed:
1. To grant to the county powers in any substantive area not otherwise
granted to the county by other public general or public local law;
2. To restrict the county from exercising any power granted to the county
by other public general or public local law or otherwise;
3. To authorize the county or its officers to engage in any activity which
is beyond their power under other public general law, public local law,
or otherwise; or
4. To preempt or supersede the regulatory authority of any State
department or agency under any public general law.
(Y)
To organize and establish a county board of health to act instead
of the county council as the county board of health under Title 3,
Subtitle 2 of the Health - General Article.
(Z)
To have the same powers enumerated in subsection (dd) of § 3 of
Article 25 of this Code.
(AA)
To establish by ordinance a commission empowered to set
compensation and allowances to be paid to members of county councils.
When established, the commission shall set the compensation and
allowances within 15 days after the beginning of the fourth year of the
term of each council. The commission by resolution shall submit its
determination for compensation and allowances to the county council.
The commission may recommend an increase or decrease in the
compensation paid to members of the county council, but in no event may
compensation or allowances be less than provided in the charter of the
respective counties. Upon receiving the resolution, the council may
reduce or reject the commission's recommendation, but it shall not
increase any item in the resolution. The recommendations contained in
the resolution shall become effective upon the adoption by the council
of an ordinance encompassing the recommendations, but the salary
specified at the time a council takes office shall not change for that
period during which the council was elected.
The ordinance making any change in the salary paid to members of
the county council shall be ordained prior to the election for the
members of the next succeeding council and take effect only for the
members of the next succeeding council.
(BB)
To enact laws generally for historic and landmark zoning and
preservation or to enact those laws in accordance with the provisions
of Article 66B, § 8.01 et seq., or to enact such laws to be
administered generally by an Historic District Commission and to
provide for appeals. The authority conferred by this subsection shall
be in addition to any existing charter provisions or local law
providing for planning and zoning.
(CC)
Repealed.
(DD)
To make use of federal or State financial assistance for
commercial or industrial redevelopment projects for the purpose of
making grants, loans, or guaranteeing loans to private entities;
provided, that the authority granted by this subsection may be used
only for commercial or industrial redevelopment projects and may not be
used for residential or housing projects.
(EE)
To enact local laws conditioning the acceptance of any
development of land for residential purposes approved by appropriate
local authorities upon a demonstration, acceptable to local
authorities, of compliance by the developer with the pertinent
underground electric and telephone residential service regulations,
including those pertaining to deposits, promulgated by the Public
Service Commission of Maryland.
(FF)
In accordance with the provisions of this subsection, to
establish a commercial district management authority for any commercial
district within its geographical limits.
(1) As to each authority it establishes, the county governing body:
(i) Shall specify the membership, organization, jurisdiction, and
geographical limits of the authority;
(ii) Shall specify one or more of the following as the purposes of the
authority:
1. Promotion;
2. Marketing; and
3. The provision of security, maintenance, or amenities within the
district;
(iii) May specify the provisions of the county charter or local law relating
to personnel, procurement, or similar operational matters that apply or
do not apply to the authority, except that minority business enterprise
procurement and equal employment opportunity laws may not be waived;
(iv) May approve the annual budget of the authority if the county governing
body levies an ad valorem tax to support the authority; and
(v) May provide such financing as it deems appropriate for the authority
through fees which may be charged to, or taxes which may be levied
against, businesses subject to the authority's jurisdiction.
(2) An authority established pursuant to this subsection may not:
(i) Exercise the power of eminent domain;
(ii) Purchase, sell, construct, or, as a landlord, lease office or retail
space; or
(iii) Except as otherwise authorized by law, otherwise engage in competition
with the private sector.
(3) Any fees or taxes imposed under this subsection shall be used only for
the purposes stated in this subsection and may not revert to the
general fund of the county.
(4) The county governing body may establish an authority pursuant to this
subsection as a special taxing district.
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