Council to Host Forum on Key Budget Issues

We will host a unique opportunity for the public to comment and ask questions on priorities relating to the Fiscal Year 2014 County operating budget planning process on Thursday, November 29 at 7:30 p.m. The 90-minute session will include a presentation on the challenges that the Council and County Executive will face in formulating a balanced budget for the fiscal year that will begin on July 1.

County departments are already working on early stages of the FY14 budget. The County Executive is required to present his recommended budget to the Council by March 15. The Council and its committees will analyze the recommendations, make adjustments and adopt the budget by late May.

The FY14 budget process will be significantly impacted by recent changes in State law regarding K-12 public education funding. The changes have added a layer of complexity to the County’s budget deliberations and fiscal outlook as the Maryland General Assembly recently amended the Maintenance of Effort law that governs local education funding and shifted a large portion of the cost of teacher pensions to the County.

The County’s Office of Legislative Oversight recently analyzed how continuing economic pressures and the recent changes in local school funding requirements would affect the Council’s budgeting and fiscal planning in FY14 and future years.

The forum will be held in the Third Floor Council Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Avenue in Rockville and will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). The broadcasts also will be streamed through the County Web site.