All the best, 

The County Council heard from residents through public hearings, town hall meetings, phone conversations, emails and meetings to help us determine our budget priorities.  Below are some essential budget items and services the Council was able to fund in the final operating budget.  This includes increases for the following:

• Food Recovery Initiative, which is the first county-wide effort in the nation to help feed those who are living with food insecurity issues by distributing food that would otherwise be wasted to non-profit providers who fight hunger;  

• Montgomery College's Achieving Collegiate Excellence, which provides academic coaches, mentors and support to high school students, who are members of minority groups, living in low-income or single-parent households, first-generation college students, or those who are homeless or in need of special education; 

• Working Parents Assistance Program, which provides enhanced child care subsidies and eliminates the waiting list for assistance;

• Inspector General's Office, increased funding to investigate Silver Spring Transit Center;

• Expanded health services for various non-profit providers;

• Extended hours and increased materials for libraries;

• Silver Spring Civic Building Community Access Program, which provides reduced rates for community use;

• County's first farmers market Double Dollars Program to increase access to healthy foods for low-income residents;

• American Film Institute operating support;

• Bikeway/bike lane marking and bike trail maintenance;

• Tree pruning and removal;

• Truancy Court, which will be expanded to one additional school;

• Working Families Income Supplement, which will fund 85 percent of the State's Earned Income Credit;

• Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy, to reduce the waiting list for adult literacy services; and

• Long Branch Athletic Association. 

FY 2014 Operating Budget

• Fully funds the Board of Education's operating budget request of $2.2 billion for Montgomery County Public Schools, with a slight reduction in state aid, while staying within the funding level mandated by the State's maintenance of effort law;
• Reduces the energy tax for residences and businesses by 10 percent;
• Fully funds the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission operating budget request;
• Funds 99 percent of Montgomery College's tax supported budget;
• Supplements programs for seniors and positive youth development, as well as those that protect our most vulnerable residents;
• Provides for two full Fire & Rescue Service recruit classes, which will have 55 and 53 recruits in January and July 2014;
• Allocates more than $5 million for Fire & Rescue Services apparatus replacement;
• Implementation of 2nd year of the police-staffing plan, which adds 35 sworn police officers and five civilian positions;
• Adds six additional school resource officers (SRO), including a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Montgomery County Public Schools;
• Continues to restore library funding and the expansion of operating hours;
• Launches the County's bikeshare program;
• Funds engineering, enforcement and education efforts to increase pedestrian safety for residents;
• Replaces paper permits in the residential parking permit program with a virtual license plate system, which allows residents to purchase and renew permits online; and
• Supports good government by funding the Ethics Commission, Office of Legislative Oversight and the Inspector General.

FY 2013-18 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) Amendments

• Additional funding for MCPS for facility planning and heating ventilation and air conditioning;
• Additional funding for road resurfacing;
• New streetlights along New Hampshire Avenue between Blick Drive and Randolph Road in Colesville;
• Initial funding for a Colesville, New Hampshire Avenue Corridor improvement project between Hollywood Boulevard and Randolph Road;
• Public-private partnership to replace the current Progress Place service center with a new facility;
• Cost share for a road improvement (Ripley Street between Georgia and Dixon Avenues) in the Ripley District in Silver Spring; and
• Opens the relocated Third District Police station in White Oak, replacing the outdated and undersized 50 year-old facility in Silver Spring.

With increased interest in healthy, sustainable and economic transportation options, it is not surprising that, from 2000 to 2011, the number of bicycle commuters in the U.S. grew by more than 47 percent.  On May 14, I joined the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and Montgomery Bicycle Advocates to celebrate this large increase in ridership in the region and commemorate May as National Bike Month. 

Bike Month celebrates the bicycle and the many reasons we ride.  May is full of opportunities to get out on your bike. Bike to School Day was on May 8, and I participated in Bike to Work Day on May 17.  With the coming implementation of bikeshare in the County, an initiative I have spearheaded since 2008, I am also focused on the need for roadway improvements and biking/walking paths in our community.  I am happy to report that the Metropolitan Branch Trail is in its final stages of completion.  I remain committed to making our County safer and friendlier for bicyclists and pedestrians.  

You can check out my ride here: http://youtu.be/OXQ2EyR6DBs 

The program will also feature a community discussion with some of the many foot soldiers in the war on poverty serving our community.   

Unfortunately, we have reached capacity for the theater, but you may add your name to the wait list here. 

Event cosponsored by: A Wider Circle, CASA De Maryland,  Food Recovery Network, Gandhi Brigade, Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County, IMPACT Silver Spring, InterFaith Works, Jews United for Justice, Manna Food Center, Maryland Hunger Solutions, Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO, Mid-Atlantic Laborers' Cooperation Trust of LiUna, Montgomery County Young Democrats, Nourish Now, Partnership to End Childhood Hunger in Maryland, Progressive Maryland, Progressive Neighbors, Raise Maryland, SEIU Maryland and DC State Council,  SEIU 1199, SEIU 32BJ,  SEIU Local 500, and United Way of the National Capital Area.