The Montgomery County Council will meet daily this week to discuss the proposed $7.1 billion county budget for fiscal year 2025 in addition to its regular Tuesday business meeting. All meetings will take place at the Stella Werner Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville.
The council will take a straw vote on the budget on May 16, with final action expected on May 23. Under county law, the council must take final action on the budget by June 1.
Here is the lineup for the week:
Monday
The council will receive an update on the status of the council’s budget work and decisions so far from Craig Howard, the council’s deputy director.
Councilmembers will also begin tackling specific department budgets within worksessions. These include budgets for the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) Water capital improvement program (CIP) as well as money for transportation, the county’s Vision Zero project, and the police department.
Tuesday
The council will focus on general business within its regular meeting on Tuesday.
Councilmembers will vote on the Jobs, Opportunities and Business Support (J.O.B.S.) Initiative, which would create three funds with monies taken from the county’s undesignated reserves in the 2024 budget–a $10 million job creation fund, a $7 million innovation fund and a $3 million equity fund.
The council will also take action on a proposed $200,000 appropriation to the current fiscal year budget, which would go to support MoCo Pride Center, the leading organization providing social services to the county’s LGBTQ+ community. Phillip Alexander Downie, CEO of the MoCo Pride Center, said the funds are needed to address “a real and present emergency” as the organization provides basic necessities and health resources to county residents.
Following these votes, the council will return to budget deliberations, addressing departmental and programming budgets including the county’s Department of Health and Human Services, public libraries, Board of Elections, Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice and the Office of the Inspector General.
Wednesday
The council will take a vote on a consent calendar of departmental and programming budgets, to include the Montgomery County Green Bank, the Housing Opportunities Commission, the Housing Initiative Fund, and more.
Councilmembers will then return to worksessions on departmental and programming budgets, including the Department of Environmental Protection, the recreation department, telecommunications and the Technology and Enterprise Business Solutions budget.
After a recess, the councilmembers will return in the afternoon for a second round of worksessions to discuss budgets and funding for the Office of the County Executive, BioHub Maryland at Montgomery County, the UM3 Institute for Health Computing, the Economic Development Fund, and more.
Agendas for Thursday and Friday have not yet been published.