State Delegate Returns His Attention to Revenue Authority

One state delegate from Baltimore County is promising legislative retribution after the board of the Baltimore County Revenue Authority discussed how to distribute or possibly renege on a promise to .

Del. John Cluster, a Parkville Republican, said he has already filed one bill pertaining to the authority and ordered two additional bills be drafted this morning.

"They've got to be reined in," Cluster said in a Friday morning phone interview.

Cluster made his comments after reading about a board discussion during a Thursday meeting. During that meeting, the board discussed possible ways of distributing $100,000 promised to Parkville community leaders after the board decided to sell a 56-space public parking lot.

The authority wants to sell the Lavender Avenue lot located on Harford Road to a a developer for $500,000. The authority, which manages a number of surface lots and metered spaces around the county as well as four public garages in Towson, said the costs of maintaining the Parkville lot exceeded the revenue.

Towson-based DMS Development plans to build a Walgreens Pharmacy on the property.

Gordon Harden, a board member who lives in Towson, said Thursday that he thinks the $100,000 should be available to any community in the county.

"Any money that we give out, anybody in the county has a right to it. It belongs to everybody—as much to Parkville as it does Pikesville because we're all one big county—and we should look at a way to distribute any monies that we decide will be distributed," Harden said Thursday.

Cluster, commenting on the story, expressed frustration with the authority.

"This seems to be the norm in Baltimore County say one thing and do another," Cluster wrote Friday morning in the comments section, adding that he planned to file additional legislation targeting the authority.

"I read the story at 6 a.m. and couldn't wait for Annapolis to open at 9 a.m.," said Cluster.

A bill pertaining to procurement rules for the authority is already filed for the 2013 session. That bill is identical to one passed by the House but rejected by the Senate earlier this year.

The other two bills relate to membership on the five-member authority board. Cluster declined to provide details of the bills until after they are drafted and filed.

"And I'm not done," said Cluster. "I'm going to be looking into the Revenue Authority."