Montgomery County Council Committee Meetings on April 17, 2024
MARYLAND, April 17 - For Immediate Release: Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Committees will review FY25 Operating Budgets for multiple departments and non-departmental accounts including the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation, Office of Public Safety Programs and Regional Interoperability, Technology Enterprise Business Solutions and Department of Environmental Protection
The Economic Development (ECON) Committee will meet on Wednesday, April 17 at 9:30 a.m. to review the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Operating Budgets for the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) non-departmental account (NDA), Incubator Programs NDA, Economic Development Fund and Urban Districts.
The members of the ECON Committee include Chair Natali Fani-González and Councilmembers Marilyn Balcombe, Evan Glass and Laurie-Anne Sayles.
The joint Government Operations and Fiscal Policy (GO) and Public Safety (PS) Committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. to review the FY25 Operating Budgets for the Office of Public Safety Programs and Regional Interoperability (OFPS).
The members of the GO Committee include Chair and Council Vice President Kate Stewart, Council President Andrew Friedson and Councilmember Sidney Katz.
The members of the PS Committee include Chair Katz and Councilmembers Dawn Luedtke and Kristin Mink.
The GO Committee will meet at 10 a.m. to review the FY25 Operating Budgets for the Public Information Office, Technology Enterprise Business Solutions (TEBS), Cable TV and Communications Plan, Device Client Management (DCM) NDA, Interagency Technology Policy Coordinating Committee (ITPCC) NDA and the Telecommunications NDA.
The Transportation and Environment (TE) Committee will meet 1:30 p.m. to review the FY25 Operating Budgets for the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Climate Change Planning NDA, Recycling and Resource Management within DEP and the Water Quality Protection Fund within DEP. In addition, the committee will review the FY25-30 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) for the new Organics Processing Facility.
The members of the TE Committee include Chair Glass, Councilmember Balcombe and Vice President Stewart.
More detail on each agenda item is provided below.
Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) NDA
Review: The ECON Committee will review the $4 million FY25 Operating Budget for the MCEDC NDA recommended by the County Executive, which represents a decrease of more than $1.9 million, or 32.7 percent, from the approved FY24 budget. MCEDC implements the County’s economic development strategic plan. The recommended budget is 43.8 percent lower than the more than $7.1 million budget requested by MCEDC for FY25. The decrease is a result of the shifting of funds for the direct business technical support and educational programming NDA to the Incubator Programs NDA, which is managed by the Business Center Team in the County Executive’s Office.
Review: The ECON Committee will review the more than $4.3 million FY25 Operating Budget for the Incubator Programs NDA recommended by the County Executive. This represents an increase of more than $1.7 million, or 64.9 percent, from the approved FY24 budget. The increase is a result of the shifting of funds from the direct business technical support and educational programming from the MCEDC NDA to Incubator Programs NDA. Other changes include increases for utilities and facility services, compensation adjustment, multi-program adjustments and a decrease for retirements adjustments.
Review: The ECON Committee will review the more than $10.96 million FY25 Operating Budget for the Economic Development Fund recommended by the County Executive, which consists of a tax-supported appropriation of more than $3.46 million in the General Fund and a one-time appropriation of $7.5 million. The purpose of the Economic Development Fund is to assist private employers who are located, plan to locate, or substantially expand operations in the County. There are six existing and active programs in the Economic Development Fund, for which the Executive has recommended $3,265,365 funding for FY25. In addition, the County Executive is proposing to add $7.5 million to the Economic Development Fund for a ‘high-growth businesses fund’.
Review: The ECON Committee will review the more than $12.78 million FY25 Operating Budget for the Urban Districts, which represents an increase of more than $1.23 million, or 10.69 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. Urban Districts are designated areas within the County that provide an administrative and financial framework to maintain and enhance the County’s downtown areas as prosperous, livable urban centers. The Bethesda, Silver Spring and Wheaton Urban Districts levy an additional tax on property within their respective districts so that the County may provide services in addition to those that it generally provides to all residents, including increased streetscape maintenance, additional public amenities, promotion of the commercial and residential interests of the district, cultural and community activities and enhanced security. The Friendship Heights Urban District was created by the Council in 2023 and collects revenue via a commercial district charge based on the number of rooms or square footage of the property, depending on the type of building.
Office of Public Safety Programs and Regional Interoperability (OFPS)
Review: The joint GO and PS Committee will review the more than $8.2 million FY25 Operating Budget for OFPS recommended by the County Executive, which represents an increase of more than $1.4 million, or 21 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. OFPS is a new office that is responsible for managing integrated public safety systems and services, as well as identifying and adoption emerging public safety technologies. Its responsibilities includes radio communications services, which runs the 24-hour operations and maintenance of the County's 800 MHZ radio and mobile communications systems and infrastructure to support public safety and public service agencies. The public safety data system is responsible for the 24-hour operations and maintenance of the 911 computer aided dispatch system.
Review: The GO Committee will review the more than $2.9 million FY25 Operating Budget for the Public Information Office recommended by the County Executive, which represents a decrease of more than $4 million, or 58 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. The decrease is due to the shift of the MC 311 Customer Service Center from the Public Information Office to TEBS. The change would leverage TEBS’s expertise in chatbots and artificial intelligence. The recommendation would result in a shift of more than $5.4 million in funding. The shifted funds include an increase of $511,787 for multi-program adjustments related to negotiated compensation changes, employee benefits, staff turnover and reorganization.
The recommended budget also includes increased funding for continuing programs. Changes include an increase of $171,282 for multi-program adjustments and an increase of $7,474 For the Web Content and Graphic Management Program. Additional increases in the recommendation are a result of cable fund chargebacks shifting to the General Fund due to declining revenues in the Cable Fund. In the Public Relations Program, cable fund chargebacks account for an increase of $479,374 and 3.30 full-time employees (FTEs). In the Web Content and Graphic Management Program, cable fund chargebacks account for an increase of $117,189 and 0.79 FTE.
Review: The GO Committee will review the County Executive’s recommended FY25 Operating Budgets for TEBS, the Cable TV and Communications Plan, the DCM NDA, ITPCC NDA and the Telecommunications NDA. Overall, there is an increase of more than $17 million, or 20 percent, in these combined budgets when compared to the approved FY24 Operating Budgets. The increase is largely a result of two factors. The first is the proposed transfer of MC311 responsibilities to the TEBS budget. This change would result in the shift of 46 FTEs from the Public Information Office to TEBS. The second factor is the shift of cable fund expenditures to the TEBS budget to address uncertainty in expected revenues from future cable franchise fees.
For TEBS, the County Executive recommends a more than $72.5 million FY25 Operating Budget, which represents an increase of more than $20.3 million, or 38.9 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. A March 29 amendment sent to the Council for the FY25 TEBS budget would add an additional $1.9 million for a Web 2.0 initiative and the development of a customer relationship management system. The County Executive recommends a more than $6.5 million FY25 Operating Budget for the Cable TV and Communications Plan, which represents a decrease of more than $7.5 million, or 53.4 percent, from the approved FY24 budget. The recommended FY25 Operating Budget for the DCM NDA is more than $16 million, which represents an increase of more than $2.3 million, or 17.2 percent, from the FY24 budget. The recommended FY25 Operating Budget for the Telecommunications NDA is more than $5 million, which is level with the FY24 budget. The recommended an FY25 Operating Budget for ITPCC NDA is $3,000, which is also level with the FY24 budget.
Review: The TE Committee will review the $10.7 million FY25 Operating Budget for the DEP General Fund recommended by the County Executive, which represents an increase of $1.6 million, or 8.1 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. DEP works to enhance the quality of life in Montgomery County by protecting and improving air, water and land in a way that fosters smart growth, a thriving more sustainable economy and healthy communities. The overall DEP budget includes four ongoing funds, which include the General Fund, Water Quality Protection Fund and the Solid Waste Collection and Disposal Funds. DEP also applies for state and federal grants which, when received, are reflected in the budget.
The $36 million FY25 Operating Budget for DEP’s Water Quality Protection Fund recommended by the County Executive represents an increase of $2.1 million, or 6.1 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. The recommendation includes an increase in the Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) rate for the Water Quality Protection Charge (WQPC) from $126 to $136.50.
The $718,344 FY25 Operating Budget for the Climate Change Planning NDA recommended by the County Executive represents an increase of $231,844, or 47.7 percent, from the approved FY24 Operating Budget. The NDA supports planning efforts and efforts to assist departments with various climate-related initiatives to meet the County's goal of an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2027 and a 100 percent reduction by 2035.
Review: The TE Committee will review the more than $154 million FY25 Operating Budget for DEP’s Recycling and Resource Management Division recommended by the County Executive. The budget is budget is divided into two Enterprise Funds, the more than $12.3 million Solid Waste Collection Fund and the more than $142 million Solid Waste Disposal Fund. The budget includes one new project in the Solid Waste Disposal Fund, which is the more than $3.1 million New Zero Waste Program and Project Management. All other adjustments are technical and there is no recommended change in the $160 collection charge or transfer station tipping fees. Adjustments in solid waste charges include a 3.1 to six percent increase for single family charges, 4.8 to six percent for multi-family charges and a 0.6 percent increase for non-residential charges.
FY25-30 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) - New Organics Processing Facility
Review: The TE Committee will review the $24.5 million FY25-30 CIP for the New Organics Processing Facility Project, which will provide for the conversion of the Montgomery County Composting Facility in Dickerson from a yard trim only composting facility to one that can also accept food scraps. The CIP will fund the design and construction of the facility over the six-year period.
The project is needed to for the County to substantially increase its waste diversion. According to the DEP’s most recent waste composition study, compostable organics make up more than 23 percent, or 138,000 tons, of the approximately 600,000 tons of County’s waste received at the County’s Transfer Station.
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: 24-147
Media Contact: Sonya Healy 240-777-7926, Benjamin Sky Brandt 240-777-7884
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