For Immediate Release: Friday, May 18, 2018
ROCKVILLE, Md., May 17, 2018—Montgomery County Council Vice President Nancy Navarro made the following remarks today after the Council reached agreement on the County’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Operating Budget, the FY19 Capital Budget and FY19-24 Capital Improvements Program. The budgets will be formally adopted by the Council on May 24.
The complete text of Council Vice President Navarro’s remarks:
“This year’s operating and capital budgets were challenging, but I am proud of all of the hard work that went into our decision to preliminarily and unanimously approve the budget today. This year’s budget balances the various needs of our residents, maintains our high-quality institutions – including fully funding Montgomery County Public Schools – is fiscally responsible, sustains our fire and rescue needs, and funds many of the basic needs of the Parks Department.
“As Chair of the Council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee, I am proud of the actions the Council took to balance this year’s budget. We continue to remain on track to hit our reserves target, we did not dip further into the Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) trust, and we continue to exercise the budgetary restraint needed to maintain our AAA bond rating from the credit rating agencies.
“There are a number of projects and initiatives that impact District 4 residents that were included in this year’s budget, and I am thankful to my colleagues for recognizing the importance of these programs. I am incredibly pleased that we were able to find the funding necessary to begin work on E. Brooke Lee Middle School. This was my top Capital Budget priority, and it was so crucial for the students and families in this community.
“Thank you to our incredibly engaged community for testifying and submitting information throughout the budget process; thank you for the professionalism of our Council analysts for responding to the needs of Councilmembers and the community when additional information was urgently requested; and thank you to the agency and department heads and staff who engaged with the Council over the past few months to help us arrive at the final budget reconciliation today.
“We have a lot of uncertainty when looking towards FY20, but I firmly believe that the actions the Council took today will help alleviate some of the anticipated challenges we may experience in the coming months.”
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Release ID: 18-153