WASHINGTON — The future of public schools will likely get a lot of attention as the Montgomery County Council begins reviewing the recommended Fiscal Year 2016 operating budget presented by County Executive Ike Leggett.
The council’s portion of the process includes public hearings, in which constituents will be able to voice their priorities for the council to consider.
“We’re having five public hearings this week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and the hearings are actually full,” Montgomery Council President George Leventhal told WTOP. “We’ve got a lot of witnesses who want to weigh in on their priorities and we look forward to hearing from the public.”
Leventhal expects to hear a lot about schools.
“The schools are the largest part of our budget; they constitute about half of our budget,” Leventhal said. Of the residents, he added, “they will probably ask us to meet the school board’s request, which County Executive Leggett did not do; he came quite close.”
But that doesn’t mean the council doesn’t like Leggett’s proposed budget.
“The executive has given us a budget that I think is very practical, pragmatic,” said Councilman Hans Riemer, also calling it “appropriate.”
“This is a tough time in the county in terms of financial issues,” Riemer continued. “We have a slowdown in revenue from income taxes as well as from property taxes.”
But before the council looks to make any concrete decisions on the budget, it wants to make sure the county gets its appropriate aid from the state. Right now, the council is waiting on about $25 million in state money for schools.
“The actual impact on running the schools, it isn’t that great, but the symbolic impact is significant because we are the largest school system in the state,” Leventhal said. “We have the fastest-growing population and we are entitled to our fair share from the state government. We certainly pay a lot of taxes to the state government.”
And county residents do have a say in what happens with the budget.
“Every council member has an iPhone and gets emails sent to the council office,” Riemer said. “You can email county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov. Your views will be read; they will be noted.”
“[We] read our email and we’re always interested in what people think,” added Leventhal. “If they want to write us letters, email us, or call our offices, we’re always open and accessible.”
The council work begins Monday, with reviews of budget requests of the County’s Fire and Rescue Service and programs administered by the Department of Heath and Human Services. Officials have until the end of May to adopt the Fiscal Year 2016 budget, which goes into effect July 1.
