Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe’s Statement on the FY26 Operating Budget and Amendments to the FY25-30 Capital Improvements Program
For Immediate Release: Friday, May 16, 2025
From the Office of Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe
Montgomery County Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe made the following statement about the Fiscal Year 2026 Operating Budget and amendments to the Fiscal Year 2025-2030 Capital Improvements Program.
Below is Councilmember Balcombe’s full statement:
I first want to say thank you to everyone on our central staff – particularly our Executive Director Craig Howard who has such expert knowledge on both the numbers and the process, and above all for his patience in answering our many questions.
I also want to thank my office team – Craig Wilson, Holly Mancuso, and Wafa Jawad, led by my Chief of Staff Lisa Mandel Trupp. At some point in every budget process, I question whether we will be able to balance the budget. Each time, Lisa will remind me that the Council has never not passed a budget. Congratulations to Lisa on her 27 th budget. Rumor has it that you will be getting a tie – I’ll make sure it’s purple.
The headline this year is that we will pass a budget that provides the essential services that our residents deserve, and we did it – without raising taxes.
This was due, in large part, to the leadership of Council President Kate Stewart. Kudos to you and your chief of staff, Cecily Thorne. Thank you for thinking outside the box and bringing all 10 of us along with you.
As a District Councilmember, I am particularly proud that the Council agreed to expand the Department of Recreation’s excellent Excel Beyond the Bell program to Waters Landing Elementary School in Germantown. This is the first elementary school in District 2 to host this program. The parents, teachers, and staff all did an excellent job advocating for the needs of their students.
We were also able to keep the upcoming Clarksburg Library on track, as well as provide funding for BlackRock Center for the Arts and Montgomery College. Additionally, we provided funding for a proposed solution to reopen White’s Ferry. We will also be expanding the highly effective Drone as First Responder program to Germantown.
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Thank you to my colleagues for understanding that for the entire County to prosper, the entire County needs to prosper.
- From the committee perspective, I am so proud the Council unanimously made Ride On free for all riders.
- We restored funding for the Parks Department to allow them to continue to provide great services to our community.
- We are also expanding the County’s Innovation Centers to help grow businesses and jobs in Montgomery County.
- We listened to our health care partners and increased the Montgomery Cares Primary Care Reimbursement Rate, which was desperately needed.
- We will also expand our services to federal workers and contractors during this extremely difficult time in our nation.
This is just a small example of the necessary additional services we will be providing to our community.
Now – it’s easy to share all the good news, but we also have some big challenges ahead. We must focus on the future sustainability of our budget, and we must begin to do that right now. We need to really assess our economic competitiveness – take a good hard look at why, despite all our assets in Montgomery County, we aren’t creating more jobs. We need to continue to address our housing affordability crisis and take bold steps to move the needle. And we need to work with our partners within Montgomery County Public Schools to create a sustainable fiscal model for the future.
I know that my colleagues are ready, willing, and able to do this very difficult work. It is my honor to work with all of you every day. Thank you.
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Release ID: 25-176
Media Contact: Lisa Mandel-Trupp 240-777-7970
Categories: Marilyn Balcombe
For updates and link to press release, see here: http://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail.aspx?Item_ID=47073