For Immediate Release: Tuesday, April 23, 2024
The joint Education and Culture (EC) and Health and Human Service (HHS) Committee will meet on Wednesday, April 24 at 9:30 a.m. to continue to review Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Operating Budgets for items that involve the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).
The members of the EC Committee include Chair Will Jawando and Councilmembers Gabe Albornoz and Kristin Mink.
The members of the HHS Committee include Chair Albornoz and Councilmembers Dawn Luedtke and Laurie-Anne Sayles.
The Government Operations and Fiscal Policy (GO) Committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. to review the recommended FY25 Operating Budgets for the Board of Elections, Public Elections Fund, the Future Federal, State and Other Grant NDA, Grants to Municipalities in Lieu of Shares Tax NDA, and the Payments to Municipalities NDA.
The members of the GO Committee include Chair and Council Vice President Kate Stewart, Council President Andrew Friedson and Councilmember Sidney Katz.
The joint Planning Housing and Parks (PHP) and Public Safety (PS) Committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. to review the FY25 Operating Budget for the Park Police.
The members of the PHP Committee include Chair and Council President Friedson and Councilmembers Natali Fani-González and Jawando.
The members of the PS Committee include Chair Katz and Councilmembers Luedtke and Mink.
The PHP Committee will meet at 2:30 p.m. to review the FY25 Operating Budgets for the Maryland-National Park and Planning Commission’s (M-NCPPC) Administration Fund, Central Administrative Service and the Parks Fund.
The PS Committee will meet at 2:30 p.m. to review the FY25 Operating Budgets for the Office of Consumer Protection, State’s Attorney’s Office, Sheriff’s Office, Office of Animal Services and the Circuit Court. In addition, the committee will review a $500,000 supplemental appropriation for the Department of General Services (DGS) for judicial security improvements.
More detail on each agenda item is provided below.
Review: The joint EC and HHS Committee will continue its review of the County Executive’s recommended FY25 Operating budget for items that involve DHHS and MCPS. These include more than $13.4 million for Early Childhood Services, $11.2 million for the Early Care and Education NDA, $7.1 million for the Newcomers Initiative, $1.9 million for Child Care Subsidies, $45.7 million for School Health Services, $14.8 million for Linkages to Learning and School Based Health Centers, $8.6 million for High School Wellness Center and Wellness Initiatives, and $1 million for Cluster Projects. Additional details can be found in the staff report, including contracts with public and private partners in Child and Adolescent School Community and School Based Services.
Review: The GO Committee will review the County Executive’s $17 million recommended FY25 Operating Budget for the Board of Elections, which is an increase of more than $4.4 million, or 34 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. Mandatory items related to the State Board of Elections represent the largest portion of the recommended budget increase. The FY25 recommended budget includes more than $2.79 million in increased costs for State Board of Elections Expenses and a $1.95 million enhancement for State Board of Elections New Election Equipment for new state mandated pollbooks. Additional budget increases can be found in the staff report.
Review: The GO Committee will review the County Executive’s $333,000 recommended FY25 Operating Budget for the Public Elections Fund NDA. In FY24, the Executive recommended an appropriation of $250,000, which was ultimately not funded in the approved budget.
Under Maryland Election Law, counties may establish their own system of public campaign financing. In Sept. 2014, the Council unanimously enacted Bill 16-14, which established a Public Elections Fund to provide public campaign financing for County Executive and County Council candidates. In Oct. 2020, the Council unanimously enacted Bill 31-20, which increased the maximum contribution limits, increased close-out periods to 90 days after an election, established post-election audit requirements, and other changes. The Executive is now recommending $333,000 in FY25, presumably intending to recommend additional amounts of $333,000 in FY26 and FY27 to bring the total amount of new or additional appropriations to $1 million by the 2026 election cycle. If approved, the amount available in the fund in FY25 would be approximately $4.2 million.
Future Federal/State/Other Grant NDA
Review: The GO Committee will review the County Executive’s $20 million recommended FY25 Operating Budget for the Future Federal/State/Other Grants NDA. This NDA enables the County to implement new grant-funded programs of up to $200,000 each and provides funds for grant continuations and enhancements without having to process individual supplemental appropriations through the Council. Upon approval by the County Executive, funds in this program are transferred to the receiving department’s grant account. There is no increase in the FY25 Operating Budget from the previous year.
Grants to Municipalities in Lieu of Shares Tax NDA
Review: The GO Committee will review the County Executive’s $28,020 recommended FY25 Operating Budget for the Grants to Municipalities in Lieu of Shares Tax NDA. This NDA funds payments required in accordance with state law. There is no increase in the FY25 Operating Budget from the previous year. The 1968 session of the Maryland General Assembly revised the tax structure to include a County income tax. As part of this restructuring, the shared tax on banks and financial institutions was eliminated, and a provision was adopted which requires counties to pay $28,020 annually to municipalities.
Payments to Municipalities NDA
Review: The GO Committee will review the County Executive’s more than $20.9 million recommended FY25 Operating Budget for the Payments to Municipalities NDA, which is an increase of more than $2 million, or 11 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. The reimbursement provided through this NDA offsets instances of tax duplication for public services in municipalities. In accordance with state law, the County is required provide to municipalities with the property tax-funded portion of those costs.
Review: The joint PHP and PS Committee will review the M-NCPPC’s proposed $20.5 million FY25 Operating Budget for Park Police, which is an increase of more than $1.5 million, or 8.2 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. The proposed budget increases overtime funding and adds one full-time career position and a new assistant barn manager position. Increases are also associated with mandated police reform law changes, and for various maintenance and software licenses, contractual services and veterinary services. In addition, the proposal adds $212,049 for maintenance costs associated with the new dispatch and records management system.
Review: The PHP Committee will review the County Executive’s more than $203 million recommended FY25 Operating for M-NCPPC, which is an increase of more than $12 million, or 6.4 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. The County Executive’s recommended budget is $6.7 million less than M-NCPPC’s requested FY25 Operating Budget. The budget for the M-NCPPC includes tax supported funds, self-supporting funds, debt service and reserves. The tax-supported operating budget consists of the Administration Fund, the Park Fund and the Advance Land Acquisition Debt Service Fund. There are three non-tax supported funds within the M-NCPPC, including the Enterprise Fund, the Property Management Fund and the Special Revenue Fund.
M-NCPPC is a bi-county agency which operates in Montgomery County through a Planning Board and a Park Commission. The Planning Department prepares master and sector plans for Planning Board review and approval by the Council. The Parks Department oversees the acquisition, development and management of Montgomery County’s parks system, which is currently comprised of over 37,000 acres across 420 parks.
Review: The PS Committee will review the County Executive’s more than $2.8 million recommended FY25 Operating Budget for the Office of Consumer Protection, which is an increase of $272,755, or 10.6 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. The Office of Consumer Protection enforces consumer protection laws prohibiting unfair and deceptive business acts or practices to ensure a fair marketplace for consumers and businesses. The office’s activities include complaint resolution, business registration, law enforcement, education, advocacy and outreach to vulnerable consumers.
Review: The PS Committee will review the County Executive’s more than $25.3 million recommended FY25 Operating Budget for the State’s Attorney’s Office, which is an increase of more than $3.2 million, or 14 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. The increase includes seven new legal assistant positions needed to review a large amount of digital evidence collected by body worn police cameras. The increase also includes funds for additional data storage and the Bureau of Justice Assistance Body Worn Camera Grant. The State’s Attorney’s Office prosecutes criminal violations in Montgomery County, educates the public concerning criminal justice issues, provides training to lawyers for future service, addresses inequality and promote fairness in the criminal justice system, ensures access to the criminal justice system and promotes professional relations with judges and attorneys.
Review: The PS Committee will review the County Executive’s more than $30 million recommended FY25 Operating Budget for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, which is an increase of more than $1.6 million, or 5.6 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. The increase includes the addition of a human resources specialist and the need to install Wi-Fi connectivity in the Sheriff’s Office terrace-level workspace. The Sheriff’s Office provides general law enforcement, judicial enforcement and specialized public safety services to the residents of Montgomery County.
The Sheriff’s Office serves District Court civil warrants, District Court criminal warrants associated with domestic violence, all Circuit Court warrants and child support enforcement warrants. In addition, the Sheriff's Office is the lead agency in Montgomery County for serving court orders related to domestic violence, including protective and peace orders. The Sheriff’s Office is responsible for transporting inmates between correctional facilities, detention centers, jails and court-holding facilities, as well as to and from healthcare facilities.
Review: The PS Committee will review the County Executive’s more than $10.6 million recommended FY25 Operating Budget for the Office of Animal Services, which is an increase of more than $1.2 million, or 13 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. This increase includes $345,553 for four additional full-time positions. The remainder of the increase is for adjustments that have no service impact, including annualization of compensation increases and personnel costs, compensation adjustments, inflationary adjustments, printing and mail. The Office of Animal Services is responsible for enforcing state and County animal laws and regulations. The office also provides animal shelter and veterinary services for lost, abandoned, abused and unwanted animals and wildlife.
Review: The PS Committee will review the County Executive’s more than $19 million recommended FY25 Operating Budget for the Circuit Court, which is an increase of more than $2.2 million, or 12.9 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. The Circuit Court serves sixth judicial circuit residents in the determination of litigation in serious criminal matters, substantive civil cases, domestic cases and child support cases.
Review: The PS Committee will review a $500,000 supplemental appropriation for DGS to implement judicial security improvements. The appropriation will fund the improvements at the Judicial Center Annex North Tower to increase security and protection for Circuit Court judges. This increase is needed to install new security doors at each level of the North Tower Courthouse to restrict access to two elevators on each floor for judicial use. The improvements would leave four elevators on each floor for public access.
The Committee meeting schedule may change from time to time. View the current Council and Committee agendas, Council staff reports and additional information on items scheduled for Council review on the Council website.
Council and committee meetings are streamed live on the Council’s web page via YouTube and on Facebook Live and can be watched on County Cable Montgomery on Xfinity/RCN 6 HD 996/1056, Fios 30, and on the CCM live stream.
Release ID: 24-158