Council Meetings for May 10

For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 10, 2018

The following Council and Committee meetings are scheduled for Thursday, May 10.   Individuals interested in attending a Council or Committee meeting should confirm the information on the day of the meeting by visiting the Council’s web page at https://tinyurl.com/CountyCouncilMeetings or by calling the Council’s Legislative Information Office at 240-777-7931.   All meetings are held in the Council Office Building (100 Maryland Ave., Rockville, Md), unless otherwise noted.

Meeting: Council Session
Date/Time: Thursday, May 10 at 10 a.m.  
Location: Third floor Council hearing room
Topics:

Budget Consent Calendar – Fiscal Year 2019 Operating Budget
Numerous budgets are on the consent calendar, which generally means that all issues have been reviewed and resolved in the Council’s committees.   

The list of budgets on the consent calendar can be viewed here.  

Worksession-Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Operating Budget and FY19-24 Capital Improvements Program (CIP)

Montgomery County Police Department
The Council will review the operating budget for the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD).   For FY19 the Executive recommends a total of $279,794,362 for MCPD, which is a 1.5 percent increase from FY18.

The Public Safety (PS) Committee discussed proposed staff increases, which include 10 new School Resource Officer (SRO) positions for middle schools, restoring six lapsed police officer positions, adding one new detective to the vice unit and maintaining merit security staff rather than converting them to contractual positions.   While the PS Committee recommended adding most of these items to the Reconciliation List, it did not approve the requested 10 new SRO positions.

The PS Committee recommended holding a joint Education/Public Safety Committee worksession later this summer (currently scheduled for July 19) to examine the SRO proposal in more depth.

The staff report can be viewed here.

CIP-KID Museum
The Council will review the FY19-24 Capital Improvements Program for KID Museum.   KID Museum is a learning space that provides hands-on learning that incorporates STEM, art and culture with skills like creativity and critical thinking.   It serves 55,000 visitors annually through school group visits, after school programs and weekend workshops.

KID Museum's long-term vision is to expand to a larger, permanent space that would serve 250,000 visitors annually.   The Executive recommends this new project for the FY19-24 CIP to purchase a 51,000-square foot building near the Twinbrook Metro Station as a permanent location for the KID Museum.   In a separate recommendation, the Executive revised the project to include $5 million for renovation funding in addition to the acquisition funding of $5.93 million.

The Planning, Housing, and Economic Development (PHED) Committee considered Council staff's recommendation to program renovation funds after design is complete and the KID Museum raises matching funds, but the committee chose to program $1.5 million in FY19 and $2.5 million in FY20 to signal the County's support for the project.

The staff report can be viewed here.

Economic Development Fund
The Council will review the operating budget for the Economic Development Fund (EDF).   For FY19 the Executive recommends $4,919,317 for the EDF, which is an increase of $808,579 or 19.7 percent from FY18.   The EDF assists private employers who are located, plan to locate, or substantially expand operations, in the County.   The EDF was created by the County to provide funds for certain economic development opportunities.

The staff report can be viewed here.

Department of Housing and Community Affairs
The Council will review the operating budget for the Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA).   For FY19 the Executive is recommending $50,473,870 for DHCA, which is a 3.6 percent decrease from FY18.  

The PHED Committee recommends approval of the budget as recommended by the Executive.

The Committee agreed to schedule sessions in the fall to review the code enforcement report that is required as a part of the changes included in Bill 19-15 and to review the Commission on Common Ownership Community annual report.

Council Vice President Navarro requests that the Council consider reducing the Economic Development Fund by $32,300 to provide funds to DHCA to design façade improvements in the Glenmont area.

The staff report can be viewed here.

Cost Sharing – County government, State match community grants and arts capital grants
The Council will review large capital grant requests in the Cost Sharing: County Government (MCG) Project.   The Cost Sharing CIP is for the development of nongovernmental projects where County funding leverages private and other public funds and include art capital projects and community grants.   The Executive recommends all but one project for full or partial funding in the CIP Cost Sharing Project for FY19.   The Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee recommendations are as follows:

approve Arts Capital Projects as submitted, but with a $78,062 decrease to the award for the Metropolitan Ballet Theatre, since the state awarded $100,000; approve community grants as submitted, but with a $50,000 increase for Sunflower Bakery for vocational kitchen expansion; and add $100,000 to fund design for the Upcounty non-profit hub.

The staff report can be viewed here.

County Executive’s May 2, 2018 Recommended Adjustments to the Recommended FY19 Operating Budget
The Council will review the Executive’s May 2, 2018 recommended adjustments to the recommended FY19 operating budget.   Some of the amendments include the following:

increased FY18 snow removal and storm cleanup costs, $5,725,453; reduced FY19 transfer of $92,000 from the Cable Fund to the General Fund; FY19 net additional state aid: $3,480,327; FY19 Economic Development Fund reduction for unneeded appropriation: $270,238; FY18 Public Election Fund balance unlikely to be needed: $1,325,000; and FY19 federal grant increase: $1,033,569.

The staff report can be viewed here.

Meeting: Bi-County meeting with Prince George’s County Council
Date/Time: Thursday, May 10 at 3 p.m.  
Location: Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission Headquarters in Laurel
Topics: Bi-County Budgets
The Council will meet with the Prince George’s County Council to vote on the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) proposed budget.  The total proposed WSSC operating budget is $781.6 million, which is an increase of $40.3 million (or 5.4 percent) from FY18.  The proposed budget includes a proposed rate increase of 4.5 percent. 

# # # Release ID: 18-137
Media Contact: Sonya Healy 2407777926, Juan Jovel 2407777931