The ongoing legal fight between the Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning Commission and the Prince George’s County Council over more than $39 million in taxpayer dollars has been delayed right as the two agencies were set to meet in court.
Last week, a judge agreed to push back to November hearings set for Monday and Tuesday of this week for a few reasons, including new legal filings made by the commission after the council passed new resolutions addressing the money at the center of this case.
The council passed the resolutions earlier this month to, in the council’s words, “clarify” the process in which the money would be disbursed and spent. Specifically, the council said it’s not redirecting the money so much as it’s reimbursing some nonprofit groups for work that’s being performed — a process that’s been repeated for over two decades now.
Yet in briefs filed by lawyers for the commission, it’s still a “commandeering” of money and it argues the funding is still going toward county operations and programs that are not related to parks or recreation. The resolutions just “re-time” the violations of law, with the commission saying it’s merely an attempt to “cure the legal defects” in the county’s process.
The county also argued it needed more time to get ready to question and challenge the expertise of expert witnesses retained by the commission.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by John Domen over at WTOP
