BUDGET

Facing Economic Challenges

The FY 11 operating budget, which begins July 1, 2010, is the clearest indicator yet of the toll of the nationwide recession on County resources.  Severe drops in revenue forced us to take measures to close a nearly $1 billion gap in a $4.3 billion budget, and there was simply no easy or painless way to address a shortfall of that magnitude. The Council had to make deep, unprecedented cuts in programs and services, including the elimination of cost of living and annual step increases for all employees, painful furloughs, the elimination of more than 450 County government positions, and lost services and programs in all county government departments, including libraries, recreation, parks, planning, regional services centers, housing and community affairs, and health and human services.

To avoid even more devastating cuts, we had to look for additional revenue sources to help close the gap. Given our commitment to hold the line on property taxes, we accepted the County Executive’s recommendation to adopt an ambulance reimbursement transport fee and to increase the cell phone tax and the energy tax, although we restructured the energy tax so that it is more evenly distributed than under the Executive’s proposal. We also implemented a carbon tax that will affect the County’s only coal-powered plant; I expect this tax to move us in the right direction on curbing carbon emissions while also providing revenue to fund efforts such as mass transit to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

I am well aware that these tax increases are unpopular with many residents. In the end, however, I believe that the council chose the best possible balance of budget cuts and tax increases.

Unfortunately, the budget forecasts for future years are equally grim. If we are going to hold the line on taxes and still provide the programs and services that residents depend on, we need to go beyond percentage cuts and focus on making County government more efficient — an idea I have pushed for since first coming to the Council in 2006.

 

Consolidation Reduces Spending

In my first year in office, I asked that the County develop measurable outcomes for all of the County’s youth-based programming so that we could find efficiencies while still providing essential core services.  More recently I proposed looking for ways to consolidate County and Park Police, recreation programs spread between the Recreation Department and the Parks Department, and housing programs spread across three agencies. As a result of my proposals, the two police agencies have been tasked with developing a merger plan which, if done correctly, could eliminate duplication of services like fleet management, background checks and call centers while preserving positions that keep our parks safe and secure. Similarly, the Recreation and Parks Departments have been tasked with merging their recreation offerings so that registration and management can be combined, resulting in better customer service and cost savings.

The time has come for us to push forward with these kinds of changes in the way the County government runs programs and delivers services to County residents — systemic changes that will produce long-term savings. We took some steps in that direction in the FY 11 budget. For example, the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation has gone from five to three divisions, eliminating middle and upper management positions in order to preserve corrections officers’ positions and maintain public safety as efficiently as possible.  But we must do more, and we must do it with the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) participating fully in the conversation and the solution.

The FY 11 budget reduces County government spending by 6.9%, while the budget for MCPS (which now represents more than 56% of the County’s budget) was reduced by 1%. As a former 17-year public school teacher, I understand the challenges in the schools as well as anyone currently serving on the Council. That is why I will do all I can to make sure that changes to the school system’s budget have minimal impact on the high quality of education we offer our children. At the same time, I believe it is important to remember that many of the same children we are educating so well in our schools are also receiving critical services from other branches of County government. Some get their immunizations through County programs for the uninsured. Many participate in recreation programs after school to keep them occupied in a productive way. They go to the libraries with their parents to use computers and check out books and movies. They play in local parks. Some depend on food from County-funded food banks. And many of their parents rely heavily on our Ride-On buses for transportation.  The dramatic cuts in those services will have profound and difficult impacts on their lives.  As we work through the tough economic challenges ahead of us, we need to remember that the County serves our children and all of the most vulnerable members of our community through nearly every department in County government, not just through our schools. We also need to remember that when asked, our school system may be able to identify ways to operate more efficiently just as we are trying to do in other parts of County government.