The Montgomery City Council voted Tuesday night to maintain the $50,000 spending cap on Mayor Steven Reed’s authority to sign contracts without council approval and issued a 90-day moratorium on off-premise liquor licenses.

The contract cap measure passed by a 5-4 vote. Councilman Andrew Szymanski first introduced an amendment to preserve the $50,000 limit in a proposal that would have otherwise granted the mayor unlimited contract authority. Once that amendment passed, the council then voted on the amended version of the resolution, approving it by the same narrow margin.

“This is the third time we’ve had this conversation,” Szymanski said.

“Every time we’ve talked about this, we’ve talked about best practices and transparency. The law gives us the power to approve contracts, and that’

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