Tonight will mark the first time in four years that County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) delivers a “State of the County” address, though it appears unlikely the two-term executive will hint at his future political plans.
Leggett told The Gazette he will not make a decision on whether to run for a third term in 2014 against his predecessor Doug Duncan (D), Gaithersburg Councilman Phil Andrews (D) and potentially other Council members vying for his job until after budget season and the Maryland General Assembly.
The address is 7:30 p.m. at the Silver Spring Civic Building, and is free and open to all. It will also be shown live on County Cable Montgomery.
The county is facing a roughly $135-million budget shortfall for fiscal 2014, and that’s without the employee raise deal that Leggett recently negotiated with the county employee union. Montgomery must also deal with a recommended school budget that is $10 million more than the minimum required by the state’s strengthened maintenance of effort law, stalled efforts to increase transportation funding in Annapolis and the looming consequences of the federal sequester.
