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 Montgomery County cannot afford pay raises for any of its 10,000 government or 22,000 school system employees in fiscal 2011, according to Montgomery County Council President Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg.

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) is in contract negotiations with unions representing government employees and police officers. Andrews said it would be "irresponsible" for those negotiated agreements to include employee pay raises.

School system employees also are negotiating their next contracts with school system administration.

The council has final approval on all negotiated agreements.

County spokesman Patrick K. Lacefield said it would be "inappropriate" to say whether pay raises were on the table for county employees, because negotiations are ongoing.

"No reasonable person could think that pay increases would be affordable given what we face," Andrews said Monday. "No responsible leader would recommend pay increases under these circumstances."

However, the council president is the irresponsible one, according to Gino Renne, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1994/Montgomery County Government Employees Union, who says Andrews should not be giving his opinion on the matter.

The union represents about 10,000 employees, 8,000 of whom are in Montgomery County.

"That is not his role," Renne said of Andrews. "His role is to keep his mouth shut until the [negotiations are complete]."

Telling employees that raises are off the table makes them nervous in already difficult times, Renne said.

Employees had no cost-of-living wage increases in fiscal 2010.

Eliminating pay increases and step increases in the fiscal 2011 budget would save the county about $150 million.

The county is facing a large budget shortfall in fiscal 2011 that might be even greater than Leggett's office has projected, Andrews said.

Officials have projected the county shortfall to be $370 million in fiscal 2011, but on Monday Andrews said that number is likely $410 million, because of an anticipated decline in property tax revenue.

"We're staying with our estimate for now," Lacefield said of Andrews' budget projection.

Leggett is proposing about $29.5 million in cuts to the current fiscal year budget in an effort to help close the shortfall for fiscal 2011.The proposal delivered to County Council members one week ago includes small cuts to many departments — with schools, government offices, public safety, transportation, health and social programs all taking a hit.

The total fiscal 2010 budget is $4.4 billion.

Leggett's proposed cuts also are a way to address a $20 million loss of state aid announced earlier this year. County officials believe additional state funding cuts could be announced in the next three weeks.

Leggett has cut about $1.2 billion from the county's past three budgets.

In a memo sent Oct. 28, Leggett urged the council to adopt his proposed fiscal 2010 budget cuts quickly or offer reductions of their own.

Leggett does not support raising property taxes to bring in additional revenue, he said in the memo. Leggett's plan also preserves county employee jobs and does not include furloughs or salary reductions.

Even so, Leggett has not ruled out furloughs as a way to save money in fiscal 2011, Lacefield said.

"We're not making any promises," Lacefield said of the fiscal 2011 budget.

"These are hard choices, but this is just a preview," he said of last week's announced cuts. "We'll look at ways to protect as much as possible education, public safety and the most vulnerable."

Leggett asked each department to suggest ways to trim their fiscal 2010 budgets, Lacefield said. Those proposals first went to the county's budget office before being presented to Leggett, who made the final cuts.

Among the cuts are Montgomery County Public Schools ($9.7 million), the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission ($2 million), the Housing Opportunities Commission ($30,000) and Montgomery College ($1 million).

The proposal also calls for a $1.2 million reduction in police spending. A portion of that reduction ($476,000) would be saved by reducing January's recruit class from 47 to 36 officer candidates.

Montgomery Police Capt. Paul Starks said the department would not comment until the cuts were finalized.

Leggett also is proposing a nearly $1 million reduction in spending on Health and Human Services, with the bulk of that savings — $730,000 — coming from delays in hiring for vacant positions.

"Nobody likes to do these things," Lacefield said. "These are things that are necessary. We have to balance the resources available with what we can afford to do."

Andrews said he expects the council will vote on the proposed cuts by Nov. 17.

"I think (the plan) is well thought out, and I would expect the County Council will support a great bulk of the recommendations, if not every single one," Andrews said.