Council to Discuss Furloughs, Energy Tax on May 17

ROCKVILLE, Md., May 14, 2010—The Montgomery County Council’s Management and Fiscal Policy (MFP) Committee at 2 p.m. on Monday, May 17, will continue discussions on proposed furloughs for employees of County government and County agencies as part of its efforts to achieve a balanced Fiscal Year 2011 Operating Budget. The Council is scheduled to reach a tentative agreement on the budget on May 20 and is scheduled to formally adopt the budget on May 27.

At 1:30 p.m. on Monday, a joint meeting of the Council’s MFP Committee, which is chaired by Duchy Trachtenberg and includes Councilmembers Valerie Ervin and Nancy Navarro, and the Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment (T and E) Committee, which is chaired by Nancy Floreen and includes Councilmembers Roger Berliner and George Leventhal, will continue discussions on County Executive Isiah Leggett’s proposal to sharply increase the County’s fuel/energy tax.

The full Council is nearing decisions on most items impacting the new budget, which will go into effect on July 1. On Monday, beginning at 9:30 a.m., the Council will hold worksessions on several issues that have yet to be resolved. The Council meeting, and the afternoon committee meetings, will be held in the Third Floor Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The meetings will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon) and also will be available via streaming through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov.

During its morning session, the Council will discuss the annual Community Grants program and the new MC 311 Customer Service Center that will radically change how the County addresses requests for services and information. The Council also will get an updated report on the proposed consolidation of the Park Police unit of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission with the Montgomery County Police. Another item on the Council agenda is Department of Economic Development.

The MFP meeting on Monday afternoon will further explore the County Executive’s proposal to have County government employees take 10 days of unpaid furloughs in the next fiscal year. But since that proposal was presented on March 15, the Council has asked other County agencies to also include furloughs for all employees.