Starved by a dire economic outlook, Montgomery County capital improvement projects in every area but education will spend more time in planning and less time under construction over the next two years as a result of County Executive Isaiah Leggett’s cautious capital budget released Tuesday.
Spending for capital improvements would increase by 1.1 percent to $3.2 billion over the next six years, leaving $2 billion in department requests unfilled. The modest increase compares with a 24.3 percent increase in 2006 and a 26.2 percent increase in 2004. Although budget decisions are made for the upcoming six years, they are revised every two years.
“Some projects we funded for design-only rather than construction,” said Leggett’s spokesman Patrick Lacefield. “We squeezed everything else in order to make sure schools got everything they needed.”
But while primary and secondary education got near-full funding, Montgomery College faced some disappointing cuts, including an unexpected delay in funding for a bioscience education center at the community college’s Germantown campus, John McLean, the college’s director of planning and design facilities, said.
The college’s Rockville Science Center, however, received full funding and will begin construction in early fall, McLean said.
A $250 million request for additional courtrooms and security at the Rockville judicial complex also went without funding due to its large price tag, said county spokeswoman Esther Bowring. Gov. Martin O’Malley is expected to include a new Rockville courthouse in his state budget, though.
The Department of Health and Human Services received funding to move forward with the planning of high school wellness centers and a multiservice center for the homeless.
“If you haven’t done the planning and analysis, it’s hard to do the construction budget, so the money we have gotten bodes well,” said Corinne Stevens, the department’s chief operating officer.
The true test of departments’ tolerance for budget cuts is still two months away, Lacefield said, when Leggett submits his fiscal 2009 operating budget to the county council for its approval.
“This is $3.2 billion over six years, that’s $4.3 billion for one year,” Lacefield said. “And there are no compensation costs – this is all bricks and mortar.”
At a glance
» Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett’s six-year, $3.2 billion capital budget “puts schools first” by funding $1.4 billion in education construction and modernization projects.
Other top expenditures over the coming six years include:
» Roads, bridges traffic improvements: $400 million
» Montgomery College: $326 million
» Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission: $193 million
» Public safety: $172 million
