Mission Statement

The mission of the Office of the County Attorney (OCA) is to act as the Chief Legal Officer of Montgomery County Government and to conduct all its legal business.

Budget Overview

The total approved FY25 Operating Budget for the Office of the County Attorney is $10,489,686, an increase of $2,866,038 or 37.59 percent from the FY24 Approved Budget of $7,623,648. Personnel Costs comprise 87.16 percent of the budget for 78 full-time position(s) and one part-time position(s), and a total of 50.75 FTEs. Total FTEs may include seasonal or temporary positions and may also reflect workforce charged to or from other departments or funds. Operating Expenses account for the remaining 12.84 percent of the FY25 budget.

County Priority Outcomes

While this program area supports all eight of the County Result Areas, the following is emphasized:

• Effective, Sustainable Government

Program Performance Measures

Performance measures for this department are included below (where applicable), with multi-program measures displayed at the front of this section and program-specific measures shown with the relevant program. The FY24 estimates reflect funding based on the FY24 approved budget. The FY25 and FY26 figures are performance targets based on the FY25 approved budget and funding for comparable service levels in FY26.

Initiatives

• Shift tax-supported and non-tax-supported chargebacks of attorneys' time from the Departments of Finance, Police, Correction and Rehabilitation, Board of Appeals, Housing and Community Affairs, Health and Human Services, Risk Management, Cable Television Communications Plan, and the Compensation and Benefits Non-Departmental Account to simplify and streamline budgeting practices.

• Implement KnowledgeLake, a searchable online imaging system, which will contain hearings files to make OCA less reliant on paper files and more efficient. This new system will provide greater file security, increase productivity, streamline access, and reduce staff time needed to archive paper files.

• Coordinate with Technology and Enterprise Business Solution's (TEBS) Geographic Information System (GIS) Unit to enhance the GIS portal to allow the public to see the location of all citations issued in Montgomery County. Users will be able to click on a map to view the geographical location of issued citations.

• Provide continuity and knowledge preservation for their workforce through several preservation projects that will include memorializing and cataloguing legal resources on OCA's intranet site for new attorneys on a variety of topics that arise with frequency, such as legislation review, Maryland Public Information Act, Open Meetings Act, and the County's ethics law. OCA will also create a readily accessible appellate brief bank to save time when preparing appellate briefs.

Innovations and Productivity Improvements

• Provide funds to implement a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) audit to ensure continued compliance with Federal law.

• Collaborate with the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Shared Services Team to implement an agreement intake and approval workflow encompassing all parties to allow departments and attorneys to collaboratively review, track, and approve non-procurement contracts and MOUs throughout their life cycles. This is an adjunct to the Non-Procurement Contract Portal OCA launched in FY22 (in accordance with Administrative Procedure 2-4) and the MOU Review Portal OCA launched last year.

• Continue providing and expanding ongoing training initiatives for County employees on a wide variety of topics, including the Open Meetings Act, the Maryland Public Information Act, and use of social media on behalf of the County.

Program Descriptions

  Litigation

Through this program, OCA represents the County (and other members of the Self-Insurance Fund) before all courts and administrative agencies in which claims for relief are sought in connection with alleged wrong-doing by members of the Self-Insurance Fund and their employees. The Litigation program also provides the County with legal...

  General Counsel

This program provides general counsel services to the agencies and instrumentalities of the County government. These general counsel services include providing legal advice to the Executive and Legislative Branches of County government; review of legislation and transactions for legal sufficiency; collection of debts owed to the County; representation of the...

  Administration

Under this program, administrative support, financial and operational management, and oversight is provided in support of the Litigation Program and the General Counsel Program. This program also provides administrative, research, and technical guidance and support to divisions within the department, allowing for an equitable distribution of work assignments, cross-training of...