Montgomery County Council Committee Meetings on April 30, 2025
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Committees will review FY26 Operating Budgets
The Education and Culture (EC) Committee will meet on Wednesday, April 30 at 1:30 p.m. to review the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Operating Budgets for Public Libraries, the Takoma Park Library Payment Non-Departmental Account (NDA), the Arts and Humanities Council NDA, Community Use of Public Facilities and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).
The members of the EC Committee include Chair and Vice President Will Jawando and Councilmembers Gabe Albornoz and Kristin Mink.
The Economic Development (ECON) Committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. to review the FY26 Operating Budgets for the Conference and Visitor’s Bureau NDA, the Small Business Support Services NDA, the BioHub NDA, the Department of Permitting Services (DPS), the WorkSource Montgomery NDA, and Alcohol Beverage Services (ABS).
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The members of the ECON Committee include Chair Natali Fani-González, Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe, Councilmember Evan Glass and Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles.
More detail on each agenda item is provided below.
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The EC Committee will review the FY26 Operating Budget for the following items:
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- Public Libraries: The County Executive recommends an increase of more than $2.1 million, or nearly four percent, from the approved FY25 Operating Budget. The recommendation includes $275,131 in programmatic and staffing enhancements and more than $1.8 million for compensation adjustments and required operating expenses.
- Takoma Park Library Payment NDA: The County Executive recommends an increase of more than $39,963, or 21.7 percent, from the approved FY25 Operating Budget. The value of the County’s annual payment to the Takoma Park Library is calculated based on the portion of the real and personal property tax rates appropriated to Montgomery County Public Libraries and the assessable bases of those rates, as set out in the County Code.
- Arts and Humanities Council NDA: The County Executive recommends an increase of $205,455, or three percent, from the approved FY25 Operating Budget. The increase is due to a three percent inflationary adjustment to nonprofit service providers. The Arts and Humanities Council has requested an additional $500,000 in funding above the Executive’s recommendation to support grant programs.
- Community Use of Public Facilities (CUPF): The County Executive recommends an increase of $751,596, or 6.6 percent, from the approved FY25 Operating Budget. CUPF provides community users and public agencies with access to public facilities for services, programs and events. The program is supported by an enterprise fund and does not receive tax dollars to support its operations.
- Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS): The EC Committee will continue reviewing the Board of Education’s more than $3.4 billion requested FY26 Operating Budget. The committee held meetings to review the MCPS budget request on April 9 , April 23 and April 25 . The Board of Education’s adopted FY26 tax-supported budget (excluding grants and enterprise funds) is more than $3.4 billion, an increase of more than $308 million, or 9.9 percent, compared to the current FY25 tax-supported budget. The FY26 budget assumes Montgomery County will continue to fund $27.2 million of MCPS retiree health benefits costs from the County’s Consolidated Other Post Employment Benefits Trust Fund. On March 14, the County Executive recommended $3.62 billion in funding for MCPS, of which would fund more than 99 percent of the Board of Education’s request. This recommendation includes $250 million of the $284 million in additional local funding requested by the board and is $256 million more than the required Maintenance of Effort (MOE) level. Additional detail is available in the staff report.
The ECON Committee will review the FY26 Operating Budget for the following items:
- Conference and Visitor’s Bureau NDA: The County Executive recommends an increase of more than $87,882, or 3.88 percent, from the approved FY25 Operating Budget. The recommendation includes a $20,000 enhancement and the three percent inflationary adjustment for nonprofit providers.
- Small Business Support Services NDA: The County Executive recommends an increase of $82,162, or 3.6 percent, from the approved FY25 Operating Budget. This NDA provides a vehicle for funding ongoing contracts with third parties to provide specialized assistance and programs for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
- BioHub NDA: The County Executive recommends an increase of $16,873, or three percent, from the approved FY25 Operating Budget. The recommendation represents a three percent inflationary increase as stipulated within the memorandum of understanding for a five-year funding agreement between the County and the BioHub.
- Department of Permitting Services (DPS): The County Executive recommends an increase of more than $2.9 million, or 6.4 percent, from the approved FY25 Operating Budget. The recommendation includes $309,170 in staffing enhancements, a more than $2.4 million increase for compensation adjustments and $158,038 in required operating expenses.
- WorkSource Montgomery NDA: The County Executive recommends an increase of $218,221, or 9.6 percent, from the approved FY25 Operating Budget. The recommendation includes $150,000 in programmatic and staffing enhancements and the three percent inflationary adjustment for nonprofit providers.
- Alcohol Beverage Services (ABS): The County Executive recommends a total FY26 funding level of more than $77.9 million, which is an increase of more than $3.3 million, or 3.5 percent, from the approved FY25 Operating Budget. The increase represents compensation adjustments and other expenses to maintain the same-service levels. ABS expenditures are fully supported by revenue collections, estimated at more than $100 million.
The Committee meeting schedule may change from time to time. View the current Council and Committee agendas, Council staff reports and additional information on items scheduled for Council review on the Council website .
Council and committee meetings are streamed live on the Council’s web page via YouTube and on Facebook Live and can be watched on County Cable Montgomery on Xfinity/RCN 6 HD 996/1056, Fios 30, and on the CCM live stream .
Release ID: 25-144
Media Contact: Sonya Healy 240-777-7926, Benjamin Sky Brandt 240-777-7884
For updates and link to press release, see here: http://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail.aspx?Item_ID=46947