Washington County delegation winds up work at post-legislative session forum

The Washington County delegation to the Maryland General Assembly concluded the 2023 session with a post-legislative forum sponsored by the county’s chamber of commerce at Hagerstown Community College.

A fiber line in the county had been severed, phone lines and internet were unavailable on campus, and students couldn’t take their first day of exams, but the six-member group of legislators each stepped to the lectern to tout their accomplishments to the dozens of community members in attendance.

“We co-sponsored some bills with regards to tax sales,” said Sen. Paul Corderman, R-Washington, alluding to legislation he co-sponsored with Del. Brooke Grossman, D-Washington. “We were successful in that endeavor, and (that) will hopefully provide the tools that are necessary to those communities to combat the blighted property issues.”

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The legislation, also sponsored by House Minority Leader Jason Buckel, R-Allegany, allows cities like Hagerstown and Cumberland to file a court motion to buy a property in certain foreclosure situations. In an interview before the forum, Grossman, whose district includes Hagerstown, called the legislation a “top request of the city.”

She said the new law provides “the city the tools to pull back tax sale properties more rapidly than we do now to address blight.” The bill passed both chambers unanimously and the governor signed the bill into law last month.

The delegation touched briefly on statewide topics, ranging from guns to the legalization of the adult use of marijuana, which garnered attention in Annapolis.

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Corderman continues call for school construction

Corderman, a member of the Budget and Tax Committee and the capital budget subcommittee, touted a number of local projects that received funding from Brook Lane to the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts.

“It’s very important that we continue to work bring the needed resources and funding back to our community,” said Corderman, in an interview after the forum. He also expressed interest in school construction, an issue he raised at the pre-legislative session meetings in December.

“There’s an opportunity here to come up with a collaborative approach with our county commissioners, with our school board, and with our state delegation,” the county’s senior senator said. “We need to have a real frank conversation about how we’re going to fund our schools, especially from an infrastructure perspective.”

A Herald-Mail report last year showed some elementary schools in the county as well as South Hagerstown High as facilities that are overcapacity.

“We can’t continue to just replace HVAC units and roofs and call that school construction in Washington County,” Corderman said.

Local funding and police bills passed by local delegates

During her time at the lectern, Grossman touted the money for Interstate 81 expansion and $294,000 in funding for the workforce center at Hagerstown Community College.

For Del. Terry Baker, R-Allegany/Washington, an alumnus of Hagerstown Community College, the forum at his alma mater presented multiple layers of homecoming after the session ran from January to April.

“Ninety days, I’m committed to Maryland,” said Baker, the first-year delegate and member of the House Environment and Transportation Committee, “If you do come home (during session), you’re at your computer, you’re constantly working on bills within your committee.”

Del. William Valentine, R-Frederick/Washington, a freshman delegate like Grossman and Baker, told the business crowd that his first year in the legislature was like “drinking from a firehose.”

“I was most proud of the working relationship within the Washington County delegation and our ability to move forward with several legislative priorities from the delegation,” said Valentine, in an interview before the forum. The former police officer cited a sheriff’s salary bill and a collective bargaining bill for deputy sheriff’s that passed after failing in a previous session.

“We were able to get those pieces moved through this year,” Valentine said. “This year was a learning curve, and a lot of what I did was watched and learned.”

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Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Washington County legislators back tax sale bill, school funding