For Immediate Release: Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Transportation fees, solid waste and water quality charges also will be proposed for final Council vote on May 24
ROCKVILLE, Md., May 15, 2017—The Montgomery County Council at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 16, will reach an agreement on property tax rates and credits for County homeowners. The Council also will review and provide final recommendations on transportation fees, charges and fares, solid waste and water quality charges, and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission’s System Development Charge.
The Council is in its final week of deliberations on the County’s FY19 operating budget and FY19-24 Capital Improvements Program. The Council is scheduled to reach agreement on the budget on Thursday, May 17, and to formally adopt the budget on Thursday, May 24. The FY19 budget will go into effect on July 1.
On May 16 the Council is scheduled to make recommendations on the FY19 property tax rate and the property tax credit that is provided for homeowners. County Executive Leggett recommended setting FY19 property tax revenue at $1,808.4 million. He recommended a property tax rate of 98.1 cents per $100 of assessed value, down by nearly two cents below the FY18 rate, and maintaining the $692 property tax credit for owner-occupied homes in the County. At these levels, property tax revenue does not exceed the so-called Charter Limit.
Every year, the Council considers recommendations from the Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee with respect to the amount of property tax revenue, the amount of the credit and the weighted average real property tax rate. The GO Committee unanimously recommends setting the property tax revenue at the Charter Limit, setting the Income Tax Offset Credit at $692 and setting the rate such that the weighted average rate is $0.9814 per $100.
The staff report can be viewed here.
Each year the Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee makes recommendations on transportation fees, charges and fares. For FY19 the T&E Committee recommends no increases in fees, charges or fares.
The staff report can be viewed here.
The T&E Committee concurs with the County Executive’s recommendations on the following for solid waste service and water quality protection charges:
• $7 increase in the Refuse Collection Charge (from $70 to $77);
• $4.94 (5%) increase in the leaf vacuuming charge for single-family and $0.22 (5.7%) increase for multifamily;
• overall changes in residential customers' Solid Waste charges will range from 0 to 3.2 percent increases; and
• no changes in tipping fees or non-residential charges; and
• approve the Water Quality Protection Charge ERU rate of $104.25, which is the same rate as approved for FY18.
The staff report for the solid waste service charges can be viewed here. The staff report for the water quality protection charge can be viewed here.
The Council’s meeting 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 meeting 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 .
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Release ID: 18-142