(UPDATED) City Council Recap: Budget Hearing, Work Session Top the Agenda

(UPDATED) The Rockville City Council meets at 7 p.m. on Mondays at City Hall. The meeting is broadcast live on Rockville 11. Here’s a recap of the April 15 meeting:

Budget hearing: Public service agencies make their case

Eleven people testified at the city’s second budget hearing Monday. Most of the speakers spoke on behalf of social service agencies, such as the Rockville Caregivers Coalition, the Rockville Science Center and the Latino Outreach Program.

“God has a warehouse that provides for his children. One of those warehouses is the women’s Interfaith Clothing Center,” a Rockville mother of eight told the Council Monday night.

She was making a plug for the Interfaith Clothing Center, an Interfaith Works program that would receive city funding in the proposed fiscal year 2014 budget.

During the hearing, Priscilla Fox-Morrill, director of homeless services and housing for Interfaith Works, thanked City Manager Barbara B. Matthews for including funding for four Interfaith Works programs.

The city manager unveiled the proposed $112 million budget for next fiscal year, which would begin July 1, 2013. While the budget is 4.5 percent bigger than this year’s, Matthews has described it as “status quo.”

The final budget hearing is Monday, April 29.  The Council is expected to adopt a budget on May 20.

Budget work session: Construction budget, utility rates

In related news, the Council discussed next year’s proposed construction budget and utility rates during a budget work session following a presentation from the city’s budget and finance manager, Stacey Webster.

Issues raised included:

Better lighting, pedestrian safety on Stonestreet Avenue | Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio and several Council members questioned whether more could be done to improve lighting on South Stonestreet Avenue, around the Rockville Metro Station.

Solutions for unfunded projects | Councilman Mark Pierzchala asked whether the Council was open to brainstorming creative ways to handle two unfunded projects—the relocation of Rockcrest Center, which houses the city’s ballet program, and repairs to the historic King Farm farmstead.

Water rates, utility rate hike | Councilwoman Bridget Donnell Newton questioned the how the department of public works came up $81.61 increase that the average resident would pay for water, trash removal and storm water management services over the course of a year—which opened up a broader discussion over the fairness of the city’s system of billing for water.

Repaving city roads | Councilman Tom Moore asked about the process of repaving the city’s roads—whether it was prudent for the city to formally shift from a 10-year repaving cycle to a 12-year cycle as the proposed budget suggests. 

Public Works Director Craig Simoneau said a 12-year cycle was still considered in the “good” range but was on the upper end of what the public works department would recommend.

“If we had more money, 10 is better than 12,” Simoneau said.

What’s next: 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.

The Council’s next budget work session is scheduled for Monday, May 5.

Discussion: How to pose proposed changes to charter to voters

The Rockville City Council came closer to finalizing how proposed changes to the city’s charter would be presented to voters in November.

After a lengthy debate, the Council made minor tweaks to a draft questionnaire presented by the Charter Commission, mainly to make it clear that the responses to the ballot questions were nonbinding.

The city plans to the ballot questions to gauge public opinion on the Rockville Charter Commission’s recommendations to:

• expand terms for the Rockville City Council from two years to four
• move city elections from odd-numbered years to every four years to coincide with presidential elections
• increase the number of City Council members from four to six

The discussion on Monday ranged from clarifying rhetoric and grammar usage to a lengthy debate over the number of responses offered for each questions—whether there should be two responses, “Yes” and “No”; three responses, “Yes”, “No” and “No opinion”; or a five-point scale ranging from “strongly support” to “strongly oppose.”

The Council is expected to vote on the final wording at a future meeting.

Consent Agenda: $198,000 contract to repair West Gude Drive Bridge

Fort Myer Construction Corporation of Washington, DC,  was awarded a $198,000 contract to fix a 12-inch water main and address repairs at the West Gude Drive bridge over Interstate 270.

The repairs were prompted by an inspection authorized by Department of Public Works. Funding for the project would come from the city’s Bridge Rehabilitation and Water Main Rehabilitation budgets.

The other bidders were:

• AB Construction, Inc. La Plata, MD — $348,770
• Sagres Construction, Corp. Lorton, VA —$567,500

In other Council news ...

Rockville City Council proclaimed April 28 as Arbor Day.  A tree-planting ceremony will be held 10 a.m. April 23 at College Gardens Elementary School, 17 Yale Place.  A representative from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service will present the city with an award.

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Editor's note: This story has been edited since it was originally published Wednesday, April 17 to correct an error. The city of Rockville's proposed fiscal year 2014 budget is $112 million. Patch regrets the error.