For Immediate Release: Friday, March 15, 2019
From the Office of Council President Nancy Navarro
ROCKVILLE, Md., March 15, 2019—Montgomery County Council President Nancy Navarro made the following comments today after County Executive Marc Elrich transmitted his recommendations for the County’s $5.7 billion Fiscal Year 2020 Recommended Operating Budget to the Council:
“The County Executive’s recommended operating budget provides a starting point for the Council’s work on the final County budget for fiscal year 2020. The Council appreciates the hard work by the County Executive and his staff to begin the process.
“Now, it’s the Council’s job to carefully balance the need for important County services and pressures on our taxpayers. That is what our Council committees and the full Council will undertake over the next two months. Our focus will be on prioritizing funding for core services such as education and public safety, protecting our safety net services that serve our most vulnerable residents and making strategic investments for our County’s economic and fiscal future.
“I am gratified that the recommended operating budget holds the line on taxes and increases the County’s reserve to the targeted ten percent by 2020. The Council will look carefully at how the County Executive balanced the recommended budget including: decreasing our annual contribution to other postemployment benefits (OPEB) in fiscal year 2019; the funding provided for negotiated compensation agreements with County bargaining units; and funding allocations made for other agencies.
“The recommended budget does not fully fund the budget requests from the Montgomery County Board of Education, Montgomery College or the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
“Some shared priorities in the recommended operating budget include: the down payment of $7 million to fund our Early Care and Education Initiative that I spearheaded; increasing investments in the small business sector; establishing FLASH bus service on US 29; opening the Wheaton Library and Recreation Center in the summer of 2019; and improving the lives of our residents by increasing rental inspections, working to end homelessness and fostering home sharing options for seniors.
“The Council will work collaboratively with Executive staff and community members throughout this review. We look forward to receiving the views of our residents during the budget process.”
The Council’s public hearings on the operating budget are scheduled for April 8, 9 and 10. Those interested in testifying at the public hearings can sign up online starting March 18 at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/PHSignUp.html or by calling 240-777-7803. The Council also encourages residents to use #MoCoBudget2020 to communicate their views on the budget via social media.
Comments and suggestions are welcome:
Information on the budget can be found at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/omb/
or by going to the County Council web page https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/Council
and clicking on “Operating and CIP Budgets.”
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Release ID: 19-096