For Immediate Release: Friday, November 11, 2022
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, the County’s regional services offices and community partners will host eight hybrid forums in November and December to seek input on the Fiscal Year 2024 Operating Budget. The first forum will be conducted from 7-8:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 14, at the Mid-County Regional Services Center in Wheaton. Residents can attend the forums in person or view them via the internet.
Six of the forums will be conducted in English. The forum scheduled for 7-8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16, at the Wheaton Community Recreation Center will be conducted in Spanish. The forum scheduled for 7-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 29, at the Chinese Culture and Community Service Center, Inc. in Gaithersburg will be conducted in Chinese. The forum scheduled for 2-3:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 28, at Leisure World in Silver Spring will focus on issues for older residents.
The County is in the early stages of formulating the FY24 operating budget. County Executive Elrich is required to submit a recommended budget to the County Council by March 15. The Council will then have two months to review the budget. It must adopt a final budget no later than June 1. The FY24 operating budget will go into effect on July 1.
“The budget is a primary indicator of the priorities of any jurisdiction,” said County Executive Elrich. “This is why community and resident involvement is essential to the process of developing a budget that reflects our values and goals. The objective is the make these forums accessible and interactive. I encourage residents to participate in the discussions because they are for you. No matter where you live or your age, I want to hear from as many people as possible. We were fortunate to maintain a very strong financial position throughout the pandemic, which enabled us to continue to support programs and services that are important to residents. Now we are looking ahead to the many ways we can make this a better place to live for everyone.”
The forums will be televised live on the County cable station County Cable Montgomery (CCM), which can be seen on Comcast (Channel 6 and High-Definition Channel 996), RCN (Channel 6 and HD 1056) and Verizon (Channel 30). The forums also will be available on cable channels Takoma Park City TV (Channel 13), Montgomery Municipal (Channel 16, 997 Comcast), Corona Montgomery (Channel 10) and Montgomery Community Media (Channel 21).
The schedule for the hybrid forums, including how to join each one virtually:
Montgomery County will provide sign language interpreters and other auxiliary aids or services upon request -- with as much advance notice as possible, preferably at least three business days before the event. Contact Karen Falcon at 240-777-6522 or send a request to [email protected] .
In all situations, a good faith effort (up until the time of the event) will be made to provide accommodations.
TTY users can use Maryland Relay 711.
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