Council winds down budget talks

A straw vote is set for Thursday, with a final vote expected next week on record spending budget

The fiscal 2008 budget — which begins July 1 — is likely to include a property tax credit, money for more anti-gang and afterschool programs and meet the charter limit on taxes, among other improvements.

Included in the budget, and initially approved by the council, is about $4 million to implement a 20-year retirement benefit for county firefighters, which has been criticized as unsustainable in the long term. For police and county employees, there is a 4 percent pay raise.

Over the past two months, the council, with its four new members, has scrutinized County Executive Isiah Leggett’s budget recommendations.

With the state facing a $1.5 billion shortfall next year and the county facing its own $175 million deficit and a $270 million gap the following year, Leggett’s proposal cut the requests from all county agencies, although it did increase their base budgets.

‘‘Let’s all remember that this is not a bad year. Almost every agency has received an increase about twice the inflation rate,” said Councilman Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg, who encouraged more discussion about finances beyond fiscal 2008. ‘‘We don’t know if revenues in out years will be as strong as they have been.”

The budget is also expected to include a record $1.982 billion for the school system, $14 million more than Leggett proposed and about $6 million less than the school board and Superintendent Jerry D. Weast recommended.

Piecing together construction money and surpluses from this year, the council’s Education Committee — led by Michael J. Knapp — last week drafted a compromise that has the support of most council members going into the final vote.

‘‘I think we did well by developing a plan that meets the needs of the school system and its students,” Knapp (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown said about the school system’s budget, which has dominated most of this year’s budget debate. ‘‘If we can keep people talking, hopefully we will be able to continue to find a consensus on this issue.”

‘‘As board members, we’ve been tortured twice,” said school board President Nancy Navarro (District 5) of Silver Spring. ‘‘This was truly a budget where we had very, very difficult questions. It was a budget sent over to the county executive that was really bare bones.”

While the slightly altered school budget is expected to pass, council members reiterated the desire for more collaboration and communication between agencies.

‘‘I’m concerned that we had a disconnect between the Office of Management and Budget and the [school] board about what expenditures were going to be,” said Councilman George L. Leventhal (D-At large) of Takoma Park. ‘‘My plea for fiscal 2009 is that we not find ourselves in a situation in which the County Council is faced with a scramble for resources when we all have the same information ... This could have been a less problematic process with more communication.”

Smaller budget items such as health care and grant funding, which were key in previous budget debates, were overshadowed by the school system’s insistence on full funding, but have managed to find approval from the council.

Also expected to gain council approval is $1.7 million in additional money for the county’s $9.9 million Montgomery Cares program, which provides health care to poor and uninsured residents. About $6 million is included for afterschool and anti-gang initiatives. The county’s Housing Initiative Fund is expected to receive about $29 million, including a $500,000 set-aside to help county employees — police, firefighters and teachers, for example — buy homes in the county.

Money is also in the budget to extend library hours on Sundays and for free bus rides for the elderly.

‘‘We just haven’t heard a lot about the budget other than schools this year,” Knapp said. ‘‘Of course, everyone is always concerned about education and libraries, things they see, but we were constantly checking our in boxes waiting for the onslaught and it didn’t come.”

A final vote on the budget is scheduled for next week. In the meantime, the council must determine whether to include items on a reconciliation list, including $7.5 million to bring Montgomery College’s budget to $199.2 million, in the budget and which nonprofit organizations will receive grants.

Staff Writer Marcus Moore contributed to this report.

What’s Next

Thursday: County Council takes a straw vote on the fiscal 2008 budget, which goes into effect July 1

May 24: Council takes final vote on the budget

June 1: Deadline for council to approve the budget

July 1: Beginning of fiscal 2008

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