Montgomery County Council members kicked off full-council budget talks Tuesday as they work to fit nearly $55 million in new funding into a $3.9 billion budget for 2007.
Committees got a start on making up the difference by cutting $7.8 million from the county executive’s budget proposal. The final council budget is scheduled to be completed May 18. By then, all additions the council wants to make must be funded by cutting other programs.
Council members focused Tuesday on funding for portable classrooms and transportation.
Council Member Steve Silverman reiterated his support for more than $1.1 million in transportation funding to “prime the pump” of several state projects. He said that while traffic congestion will never disappear, “we are going to make some big strides. … The InterCounty Connector is only a piece of the big puzzle of solving traffic congestion.”
Council Member Marilyn Praisner said the proposed source of the transportation funding — $1.1 million in revenues from the county’s Liquor Control Board — is under the exclusive control of the county executive. The council cannot force a future county executive to give up that funding for four or six years.
Nevertheless, “I support what we’re doing,” Praisner said.
Other competing programs include $2.1 million for portable classroom upgrades, replacement and elimination throughout the county beginning this fall.
In addition, the Board of Education voted Tuesday to amend its budget request and ask for an additional $775,479. Changes in federal and state funding, among other things, drove the request.
