Montgomery County Councilmember Evan Glass made the following statement about the Fiscal Year 2027 Operating Budget, the Fiscal Year 2027 Capital Budget and the Fiscal Year 2027-2032 Capital Improvements Program after the Council reached its preliminary agreement today. The Council’s final vote on the capital and operating budget resolutions for Montgomery County is scheduled for May 21.
Below is Councilmember Glass’ full statement:
This has been the most difficult budget I have experienced during my two terms on the Council.
The process itself had moments of turbulence, but we buckled up and worked through it. Nobody got everything they wanted. We all had to take tough votes and compromise, which is how the legislative process works.
Leadership is about landing the plane. Not walking away when it gets tough. Not grandstanding so it can fit into a TV commercial or a bumper sticker.
I took an oath to serve all our residents, not to shirk my responsibility when I don’t like the outcome. The absolutist mentality that if you don’t get 100% of everything you want, or if there is one thing you don’t like, that you’re going to walk away – that’s not leadership. We see that type of purity politics and extremism in other places, and we shouldn’t tolerate it here in Montgomery County.
We faced a similarly challenging budget in 2023, when every member of this Council voted for the final budget – which included a property tax increase. Not everyone liked that budget either, but everyone voted for it – because passing a budget is the job.
We have real challenges in Montgomery County. Challenges that local government has to solve.
To be clear, no Montgomery County department or agency received all the funding they requested. We simply didn’t have the funding to meet all the needs. Many of those decisions were painful.
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Roughly half of our budget funds Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). We should have never been put in the position of making impossible tradeoffs to save educators’ jobs. We can’t keep raiding money designated to pay future retiree healthcare costs, and we should not be using one-time funds for ongoing expenses. I didn’t vote for that proposal because it is fiscally irresponsible. That’s why I have repeatedly called for structural changes and more transparency in the MCPS budget process.
Does MCPS need additional resources to meet the needs of our students and educators? Yes. Which is why we are funding MCPS more than last year. But to fully fund MCPS’ operating needs, we have removed funding for much needed capital investments like HVAC replacement, leaking roofs and other structural issues that our teachers, students and parents have been demanding.
Do our immigrant neighbors who fear for their safety need help? Yes. Which is why we’re adding funds to help them access rapid response services if ICE or other federal agents come after them. This is a program that works. It is targeted, it is effective, and it helps real people in our community.
And do our most vulnerable residents, those experiencing homelessness, need help? Absolutely. Federal cuts to HUD mean more families need short term housing and emergency shelters. We are funding that in this budget, because emergency shelter works. It keeps families off the street while we work on longer term solutions.
Do our nonprofit providers need help? Absolutely. They are being asked to do more with less — increased requests for help and decreased federal funding, both driven by the federal government. Which is why this budget delivers a much-needed 3.5% inflationary increase for the organizations on the front lines of serving our community. It’s not the 8% that our nonprofit community requested, but it is what we were able to provide so they can continue providing critical services to our residents.
So much of this budget has focused on revenue. Yes, we do need more revenue. But the only solution being offered by the County Executive and some colleagues is to increase property taxes year after year. That’s not the solution. What we have to do is grow our economy and tax base. We have to make it easier to open and operate a business, which begins by streamlining our permitting and regulatory system. And we have to have more housing that is affordable so employers and their employees can live near where they work. That must be our focus moving forward.
I did not support any of the tax increases or adjustments in this budget. My decision was not an ideological one. It was an understanding that our residents are already stretched thin and many cannot afford higher taxes. But a majority voted in support and they prevailed. That vote established the revenues we had to work with for our entire budget.
Montgomery County voters elected us to lead — not walk away when the job gets tough. Refusing to vote for this budget is a dereliction of duty, not leadership.
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This work is complicated. This work is nuanced. It’s a $7.9 billion budget that defines the fabric and foundation of our community.
This is the work that leadership requires.
We have to fund our schools. We have to fund essential services. We have to honor our employee contracts and pay our hardworking staff. And that only happens when we approve a budget – even an imperfect budget, like the one we are approving today.
I’m supporting this budget, not because I agree with everything in it, but because it invests in the future of our County and protects our communities and families.
That is what leadership is and that’s what this moment calls for.
I want to thank my colleagues who completed the assignment: approving the budget. It wasn’t easy. But it was necessary.
I respect the process, but most of all, I respect your commitment. I would also like to thank our central staff for their expertise in guiding this process, as well as my team – Jill, Hope, Hannah, Chris, Yonathan and Avery – for their hard work over the last few months.
This is hard work. But it’s the work we were elected to do.
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Read the original article at mccouncil