Politics & Government

A Look at Rockville's Proposed 'Status Quo' Budget

The mayor and council's first public budget hearing is April 1.

Rockville's mayor and the city council got their first official glimpse Monday of the proposed $112 million budget for fiscal 2014, a budget City Manager Barbara Matthews described as “status quo.”  

The proposed operating budget is 4.5 percent bigger than last year’s and includes unexpected revenue from taxes, red-light camera violations and, possibly, more funding from the state.

The full budget report is available at the city’s website.  

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The first public hearing on the budget is April 1. The mayor and council are expected to approve a budget in late May. Fiscal 2014 begins July 1.

Here are some of the highlights of the budget proposal:

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Revenue: More revenue from state funds?

The $111.9 million in projected revenue includes unexpected revenue from tax assessments and red-light camera violations—and without a property tax hike council members once feared could be necessary to maintain services.

There also is the potential for additional revenue from the state.

Highway user revenue represents a portion of the city's share of gasoline tax and vehicle registrations collected by the State of Maryland. The city's share of the revenue peaked at $3.3 million in fiscal 2007, according to the city finance department.

Cities use the funds for transportation-related projects. A decline in the funds in recent years is an issue taken up by the Maryland Municipal League.

“The state raided the transportation fund because they needed the money for other purposes,” said Councilwoman Bridget Donnell Newton, Rockville's MML representative. “That severely impacted municipalities' ability to do our jobs. We have been striving to get our money back.”

Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposed fiscal 2014 state budget puts more money toward highway user revenue, which would increase the city’s share to $1.6 million—compared with the $507,100 it had expected to receive for the new fiscal year.

But the governor’s budget has yet to be approved by the General Assembly. The final amount won’t be known for sure until April 8, the last day of the legislative session.

Similarly, the city could see an increase in a police protection grant from the state. The city had anticipated receiving $417,000 for fiscal 2014, but could receive $620,000 under O'Malley's budget plan.

Personnel expenses: Budget offers COLAs, eliminates jobs

In general, personnel expenses account for more than half of the city’s expenses and wouldn’t change much from 2013—the proposed decrease in personnel costs is less than 1 percent.

Full-time workers would get a 1.25 percent cos-of-living adjustment. There would also be a 1.9 percent increase in employee benefit costs.

The proposed budget also would eliminate the equivalent of 7.5 full-time positions.

“We’re not talking about layoffs here,” Matthews told the mayor and council.

Matthews said most of the affected positions were already vacant. In other cases, workers would be transferred to other city jobs.

Construction projects: $2.5 million for swim center and civic center upgrades

The budget proposes a $67.5 million five-year construction budget—with a $43.3 million carryover from prior years—to fund 47 infrastructure projects, including:

  • Short- and long-span bridge repairs.
  • Pedestrian safety initiatives.
  • Improvements to the water treatment and water distributions systems.
  • Rehabilitations and upgrades to the sewer and stormwater management systems.
  • Maintenance of playgrounds and athletic fields.
  • Infrastructure repair and replacement for existing city facilities.
  • Asphalt and concrete repair and replacement.
  • Continuation of the city's annual contribution to the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant capital program.

The plan also proposes borrowing $2.5 million for upgrades at the Rockville Swim and Fitness Center and the Rockville Civic Center complex, according to a budget report prepared by the finance department.

Other construction projects include $986,620 to renovate the first floor of City Hall, with $600,000 in cable franchise fee revenue slated for building Rockville 11 studio space.


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