More News

The Clarksburg Chamber of Commerce will move forward in its fact-finding mission on incorporating the town and hopes questions raised during a recent meeting with Poolesville officials will be answered Thursday when members meet with a representative of the Maryland Municipal League.

Chamber members said they came away from the trip to Poolesville with the deep sense of identity and control that incorporation gives a community.

Poolesville Town Commission President Eddie Kuhlman and Town Manager Wade Yost discussed how incorporated towns can choose what services to provide to residents and customize those services. Poolesville, one of the oldest incorporated towns in the state, has planning and zoning authority and is also responsible for water, sewage, trash collection, snow removal and recreation, Kuhlman said in a phone interview.

However, since state law was changed in the mid-1950s, the county does not cede planning and zoning authority to newly incorporated towns.

"Without planning and zoning authority, I'd really question what is the purpose of incorporation," Kuhlman said.

Clarksburg residents and business people have been frustrated for years over how the county has managed growth in the community and gaining control was one thought in considering incorporation, said chamber member Gordon Taylor, who is leading the research effort.

He expects an incorporated Clarksburg would be able to direct funding where the town sees fit.

Taylor said his group would have to figure out if residents of Clarksburg could handle more taxes levied by a municipal government.

Poolesville has an annual budget of $3 million and charges a property tax rate of 15 cents for every $100 of assessed value. That works out to a $750 tax on a home valued at $1 million.

"You need to be able to explain why it would be worth [residents'] while to pay an extra $750," Kuhlman said. "Using our tax rate, if we weren't incorporated, I'd have to have the answer for homeowners, what are you getting that you're not getting today? Is it enough to make me want to pay $750 per year?"

Five communities have incorporated since the state law changed, and all are in Montgomery County, said Tom Reynolds, the Maryland Municipal League's manager of research and information. The most recent was North Chevy Chase in 1995, he said.

The Poolesville meeting gave the group a sense of what it takes to run a successful town and some information on the incorporation process, Taylor said.

"We definitely were able to get firsthand a sense of what it takes to be an incorporated city," he said.

They hope to get more from Reynolds Thursday night.

Catherine Matthews, director of the Upcounty Regional Services Center, attended the Poolesville meeting as a representative of the county government.

"My concern is when communities start exploring, they get accurate information," she said.

The county does not take a position on whether communities should incorporate, Matthews said. Communities may see incorporation as a way to be a more formal voice in dealing with county government, but an active civic association can do the same, she said.

"It's up to the community to determine their voice and what works for them," she said.

The community would have to approve incorporation in a referendum. Taylor said the process costs $10,000 to $20,000 and takes about a year.

"You have to do the groundwork and educate people first before you go to referendum," he said. "You have to be secure in the idea you will win before you go to referendum."

An early question would be to figure out the boundaries of the incorporated town, Taylor said, and whether to include agricultural areas or just new developments.

Maryland has 156 incorporated municipalities, according to the Maryland Municipal League.

Clarksburg is projected to grow to nearly 40,000 residents within the next 20 years as the community is developed according to the 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan.