WASHINGTON — Montgomery County’s council members are all set to go on their summer break. There’s just one thing: They have to finish their work on proposals to cut at least $50.8 million from the fiscal 2016 budget.
At their Tuesday afternoon session, the council will consider recommendations from the various committees that would result in cuts of up to $54 million.
The call to make the cuts came as a result of Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett’s analysis of revenues and the hit the county will take from a Supreme Court decision on its taxing authority. The Wynne case will result in the county having to refund taxes on out-of-state income, and Leggett has projected that making the cuts now will reduce the stress on the budget process in fiscal 2017 and 2018.
Last week, Leventhal told reporters that the stress on the current budget year was not as severe as Leggett had indicated, because the county’s reserves are at their highest level ever — $383 million. That prompted the county executive to send a memo to Leventhal and the council making the case for his cost savings plan.
On Monday, Leventhal told reporters that the council committees did not adopt many of Leggett’s cuts, and that Leventhal had always said that cost reductions would be prudent.
Once the council wraps up Tuesday’s business, it will be out until September. Leventhal told reporters he thought the council deserves a break; he’s looking forward to getting away — to Brazil. It’s family time, he said; that’s where his wife grew up and where they still have family. One reporter advised, “Wear sunscreen!”
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
