Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich is readying a proposal for new taxes on commercial property owners to fund the construction of the county’s long-contemplated bus rapid transit system, emulating Northern Virginia’s strategy for financing the Silver Line.
Elrich hopes to create special tax districts to provide a steady source of cash for the new transit system, commonly referred to as BRT, in a bid to accelerate the construction of the 82-mile network. He’s still working on the exact details, but he said in a recent interview that he expects to advance a detailed plan sometime this year.
“I remind people that it was under a Republican governor and Republican legislature that the Virginia counties and the chamber and the developers said, ‘Give us the taxing authority to build our infrastructure,’’’ said Elrich, a Democrat elected in 2018. “Our guys over here, who are often the same people on their side of the river, need to give us the same leeway, and I can deliver the same result.”
County officials have long planned for a series of BRT routes to complement existing rail and bus service, and many business leaders see such an addition as key to spurring more transit-oriented development in the county.