Council faces $152 million budget gap

County Council members have to fill a $152 million hole to balance next year’s budget, and they’ll be spending much of the next week looking for spending cuts.

County schools may not be getting the increased funding they asked for — and that they had reason to think they might get.

County Executive Marc Elrich in March proposed full funding of Montgomery County Public Schools’ $3.8 billion budget request. But the council will be considering cuts to that plan during its Tuesday meeting, and the council president has already proposed a $90 million reduction.

A yawning budget gap emerged as council members rejected Elrich’s strategy of raising taxes to balance the budget. They have also voted down a plan to lower negotiated raises for union employees, a controversial proposal that would have prevented some cuts.

Council President Natali Fani-González, who has repeatedly bashed Elrich’s solution to the county’s emerging financial woes and introduced an alternative budget plan in mid-April, said the county is facing “a wake-up call.”

“This is a reminder that this county cannot continue to spend money the way that it has been for a while,” she said.

‘We’re gonna break some hearts’

Council members have dismissed Elrich’s plan to raise the local property rate by roughly 6%, which would have generated an estimated $165 million and potentially helped the county avoid deep cuts to government services.

Council committees have also recommended that the full 11-member council reject Elrich’s plan to raise the local income tax rate across the board and instead adopt Fani-González’s vision for progressive income taxes. Residents currently pay a 3.2% tax rate, regardless of income level.

To add revenue, Fani-González has advocated for the council to eliminate the county’s Income Tax Offset Credit, under which homeowners can receive a $692 credit.

Fani-González has said her income tax plan would eliminate the need for the credit.

As of Monday, council members had compiled a “reconciliation list” of budget items totaling $214 million from which to potentially cut.

“We’re gonna break some hearts, lots of them,” Fani-González said. “And we gotta own it and move forward.”

Increased funding for Montgomery County Public Schools amounts to nearly $180 million of the reconciliation list.

David Stein, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, said the school board’s budget request “does not add very much fluff” and includes money for negotiated labor agreements, needs for special education programs, and security upgrades, among other items.

Under Fani-González’s proposal, he said, “Not only will it be difficult to honor contracts, but they are going to have to lay off people.”

Will Jawando, the only council member aside from Fani-González to introduce a budget alternative, has proposed cutting $30 million from what Elrich approved for the school board.

The council’s three-member committee on education, which Jawando chairs, also voted to recommend that the full council cut no more than that amount.

Stein said Jawando’s proposal represents “a very serious cut,” but added that it would be much easier for the school board to handle than $90 million, “which would simply be catastrophic.”