For Immediate Release: Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Montgomery Council to receive
Overview of FY18 operating budget
Also on Wednesday, May 17: property tax rate
and credit, transportation fee changes
ROCKVILLE, Md., May 16, 2017—The Montgomery County Council at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 17, will receive an updated overview of the County’s expected revenues and expenditures for Fiscal Year 2018. That information will be key as the Council makes final decisions regarding approval of the FY18 operating budget.
The Council is its final week of reviewing County Executive Ike Leggett’s recommended FY18 operating budget. The Council is scheduled to reach agreement on the budget on Thursday, May 18, and to formally adopt the budget on Thursday, May 25. The budget will go into effect on July 1.
The Council’s session will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Third Floor Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The session will be will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM). The channel can be viewed on Cable Channels 996 (high definition) and 6 (standard definition) on Comcast; Channels 1056 (HD) and 6 (SD) on RCN; and Channel 30 on Verizon.
The session also will be available live via streaming through the Council web site at http://tinyurl.com/z9982v8 .
During the session, the Council will hold a worksession on the FY18 property tax rate and the credit that will be given to each homeowner. County Executive Leggett recommended setting FY18 property tax revenue at $1,767.3 million. He recommended a rate of $1.0013 per $100 of taxable value, down from $1.0264 in FY 17, and maintaining the current credit of $692.
At these levels, property tax revenue does not exceed the so-called Charter Limit. Every year, the Council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee considers its options with respect to the amount of property tax revenue, the amount of the credit and the weighted average real property tax rate.
The Council also is expected to approve changes to several transportation-related issues.
The Council is likely to change the effective date of revised Ride On fares from July 1 to June 25. On May 12, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) announced that its new fare schedule, including for Metrobus, will go into effect on June 25. The Ride On fare increases likely will be approved to go into effect the same day to avoid confusion, especially with the cost of transfers between Metrorail and Ride On. Many Ride On fares will be increasing by 25 cents per trip. Some trips will increase by less.
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