The Maryland Municipal Technical Assistance Program (MTAP) has announced a new webinar: Blending ARPA CLFRF & IIJA and the new ARPA CLFRF Interim Final Rule to take place on September 13, 2023 from 12:00-1:00pm EST. This webinar will provide an overview of:

• Methods available to leverage Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CLFRF) to successfully pursue Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) opportunities. 
• A re-introduction to the IIJA. 
• The 2023 ARPA CLFRF Interim Final Rule (IFR), including new expenditure categories, and the limited impact of the new IFR for municipalities who designated their entire award under the standard allowance for revenue loss.

A limited number of rooms remain available for our Excellence in Leadership Fall Conference. The Hotel at University of Maryland will honor MML's special discounted rate until September 15.

Know Before You Go

MML's Legislative Committee met three times in August to review all 20 member-submitted Legislative Action Requests (LARs) submitted in advance of the 2024 General Assembly Session. After substantial discussion, the Committee unanimously voted to recommend the following three priorities: 

1. A Speed Camera bill to allow local governments to utilize non-sworn personnel to issue a citation for speed camera violations; 
2. A bill to allow local governments to establish Tourism Zones to provide incentives to attract tourism; and,
3. Legislation establishing and supporting a statewide study on local government revenue sources.

This Friday, learn about an opportunity to join other local governments in a collaborative insurance plan that may reduce your administrative burden and save your municipality time and money. The Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance program, also known as the Time to Care Act, impacts all employees and specifically employers (including municipal governments) with 15 or more employees. So, if your municipality has at least 15 employees or plans to expand to 15 or more in the future, you won't want to miss this webinar. 

David Johnson, Vice President from Bolton USA, will talk in detail about the collaborative opportunity and answer your questions. Sign-ups for the collaborative plan are due in the next few weeks, so this is the best opportunity to learn if it is the right option for your municipality!

Registration for the Excellence in Leadership Fall Conference, being held October 15-17 in College Park, is now live!  MML’s conferences are the only professional development events designed solely for municipal officials. Our fall event draws our most engaged and forward-thinking leaders, looking for information that can arm them for the upcoming legislative session.  

Here's what you need to know about this year's event:

For 14 years now, MML has partnered with TechnologyNet, a Utah-based company providing “real time,” web-based compensation data to public sector subscribers. TechNet currently serves more than 1,000 local governments in in Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Virginia and here in Maryland and will be delivering a webinar on Thursday, August 31 demonstrating system capabilities for municipalities interested in learning more. The TechNet system includes:

• Reporting, sharing and comparing of wages and salaries for fulltime, part-time, temporary and seasonal positions
• Reporting, sharing and comparing of benefit practices, including health, dental, life, disability, retirement, supplemental retirement and all other employer paid benefits
• Reporting, sharing and comparing of current and best practices impacting compensation including paid leave, holidays, and dozens of allowances & practices.
• The ability to select which governments you want to compare against with unlimited report generation, 24/7.
• Easy updating methods to keep information current.
• Data monitoring features and automatically notifies users when data is over a year old.

The cost to participate is $40-80 per year for most Maryland municipalities and allows for multiple logins and passwords for shared access with staff members. 

(August 11, 2023) Annapolis, Md. – The Maryland Municipal League (MML), which represents 157 cities and towns, two special taxing districts in Maryland, launched its inaugural Symposium Thursday, August 10. The first in a series of deep dives into emerging municipal issues, yesterday’s speakers tackled the recent legalization of cannabis.