Watching the County Budget Process: Slicing Up a Large Pie

By Carole Barth

Sitting through the Council’s 2007 budget process was quite an eye-opening experience. Frankly, I was appalled to learn how much money is being spent by county agencies for programs and services that are too often inadequate, ineffective, or downright wrongheaded. As Montgomery County citizens we expect to pay high taxes, and we expect a high level of performance in return. While there are individual programs and staff who live up to this expectation, far too many do not.

Therefore, I think it’s important that we learn more about the budget process as a whole and actively participate in that process. This is the first of series of articles on that process. Instead of simply getting involved in how big a slice of the budget pie goes to a particular program, we need to understand what type of pie it’s supposed to be and what’s in the recipe. Let’s start with the operating budget pie.

The operating budget includes expenses for personnel and program. So how big of an operating pie are we baking? Montgomery County’s operating budget is approximately four billion dollars. To give some perspective, this is one billion more than Cook County, Illinois’ operating budget. (Chicago is located in Cook County.) It is also more than the operating budget for the entire state of Delaware. In other words, we have a mighty big pie here in Montgomery County.

Important Dates for the County Budget

December. County Executive develops a recommended budget and performance measures for County programs.
January 15 (every other year). County Executive submits his/her proposed capital budget to the County Council.
March 15. The Executive’s recommended operating budget is submitted to the County Council.
First Week in April. The Executive’s recommended performance measures for county programs are submitted to the County Council.
June 1. County Council approves the final budget.
July 1. New fiscal year begins.

Let’s look at who the bakers are. The County Executive proposes a budget and recommends budgets for the so-called independent agencies. (Independent agencies include Montgomery Public Schools, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, and the Maryland National Park and Planning Commission.) The Council holds hearings and deliberates on the spending and revenue proposals and then takes final action on the budget. The Executive has an item veto, but the Council can override a veto by six votes.

So, December is an important time to let the County Executive know what we would (and wouldn’t) like included in his budget. We can certainly discuss this at our December meeting, but this is a good example of a decision target that moves a little too quickly for our bimonthly meeting and newsletter schedule. Hopefully the new NFCCA listserve is up and running by the time you get this, so we can stay in touch as the budget develops. In any event, I encourage you to go to the County’s website at www.montgomerycountymd.gov and select the County Executive’s page as well as the Montgomery County Office of Management and Budget website to learn more. This is a case where the more cooks, the better the dish. ■

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