Politics & Government

Election Supervisors Find Property Owners' Assoc. Petitions Had "No Qualified Signers"

After reviewing petitions calling for charter amendments, the Board of Election Supervisors and city attorney both report that the petitions are legally insufficient.

Two proposed charter amendments by the Prince George’s County Property Owners’ Association, Inc. might not make it to a referendum because the petitions calling for a citywide vote to adopt the amendments do not include the signers’ voting districts.

As part of its campaign against rent stabilization in College Park, to garner support for two proposed charter amendments. One, titled “Property Tax Limitations” would limit the amount of real property tax that the city can collect to the amount collected in 2011. The other, titled “Non-Discrimination in Housing and Rental Laws” would prevent the city from distinguishing between different types of housing.

But because the voters who signed the petitions did not list their voting districts along with their names and addresses, the petitions include “no qualified petition signers,” according to Board of Election Supervisors (BOES) Chief Supervisor John Robson, who spoke at Tuesday’s Mayor and Council meeting. The city council assigned BOES to measure the legality of the petitions against the city charter.

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The city received the petitions from PGPOA on March 22 of this year. City Attorney Suellen Ferguson said that the city has 60 days to decide whether or not to put the amendments before a citywide vote. If the council decides against holding a referendum, the council could be sued, Ferguson said.

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Ferguson also found that the petitions do not meet city or state obligations for charter amendments. State law requires that each charter amendment includes just one subject, indicated by its title. The “Non-Discrimination” petition calls to restrict the city from adopting laws that (1) discriminate and (2) make a distinction between types of housing, according to Ferguson.

Both petitions would also limit powers of the city council granted to it by state law, according to Ferguson. (Her full legal opinion and the petitions accompany this post as PDFs.)

, which existed in the city since 2005. In August 2010, the Maryland Court of Appeals agreed that city officials can limit the rent that landlords charge.

Last month, analytics company Sage Policy Group, Inc. reported that “there remains a rational basis for rent stabilization in College Park,” to encourage stable owner occupancy in the city. Among the reasons, the report points to a higher code violation rate among rental properties than among owner-occupied properties.

But Andrea Hawvermale, vice president for PGPOA, said that the rent stabilization law is not the way to handle such problems.

“Code enforcement with the bad landlords is all they need to do,” she said.

College Park resident Jim Mullins has rented out residential property in College Park for three years. Although he earned an exemption from rent control, he was at Tuesday’s meeting to support his fellow landlords.

He said that landlords need to be able to charge high enough rent to make a profit and maintain the property. If landlords can’t take care of the home, they might be forced to sell, and it could become vacant, he said.

But city officials have said that the amendments, if adopted into the city charter, .

Officials told The Gazette earlier this month that if the city can’t distinguish between rental and owner-occupied homes, they would not be able to conduct yearly inspections of rental properties without also inspecting owner-occupied properties. The charter amendment could disqualify homeowners from receiving the Maryland Homestead Tax Credit, a tax break for homeowners on their primary residence property tax, according to The Gazette.

Hawvermale said that the landlords will now consult with the group’s attorneys about the findings from the BOES and the city attorney.

No action was taken on the petitions Tuesday evening, but council did vote on the following items:

  • Included on the consent agenda, council granted a resident’s request to construct a second singlewide driveway apron in front of his home on 50th Avenue.
  • Council approved the community service grant recipients and amounts for fiscal year 2012, though after the item was moved from the consent agenda to the list of action items. The grants were approved 6-0-2, with the Dist. 2 councilmen Bob Catlin and Monroe Dennis abstaining. The motion was made by Dist. 1 Councilman Patrick Wojahn and seconded by Dist. 3 Councilman Robert Day.
  • Council unanimously adopted an ordinance to amend to the city’s code of ethics, incorporating changes required by state ethics laws, and makes other clarifications in the code regarding the filing process for officials and candidates. The motion was made by Catlin and seconded by Dist. 4 Councilwoman Denise Mitchell.
  • Council voted unanimously to send a letter to Gov. Martin O’Malley, urging him to call for a special session to reverse cuts in the state’s fiscal year 2013 budget. The letter focuses on the impact such cuts would have on the University of Maryland. The motion was made by Dist. 4 Councilman Marcus Afzali and seconded by Dist. 1 Councilman Patrick Wojahn.
  • Council appointed Adele Ellis to the Noise Control Board.

Council also introduced:

  • an ordinance to amend the fiscal year 2012 budget that would allow $1.4 million from the city’s unassigned reserve to be used toward a new public works modular building and the City Hall expansion. The public hearing for this item is scheduled for 7:20 p.m. on May 8.
  • an ordinance to adopt the fiscal year 2013 operating and capital budget. The public hearing for this item is scheduled for 7 p.m. on May 8.


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