Montgomery County officials, still reeling from smaller staffs, fewer resources and less available services this budget year, say more cuts would be a herculean task.
“Obviously, if that’s what we have to do, we don’t really have a choice,” said Robin Riley, division chief in the county’s Recreation Department, referring to anticipated budget cuts next fiscal year. “Any reduction ?– no matter how large or small — is going to be a challenge at this point. I couldn’t even begin to guess where we would look for cuts.”
County Executive Ike Leggett is advising department heads to identify 10 to 15 percent in cuts to their upcoming budgets. Though the number could fluctuate, the proposal is based on conservative spending estimates — and if last fiscal year was any indication, projected shortfalls are more likely to grow than shrink.
The Montgomery County Recreation Department, for example, was gutted by $4.5 million, which amounted to a 15 percent funding reduction from last fiscal year. Because of the cutback, all nonaquatic facilities are closed at least one day a week and the hours at senior centers have been reduced.
The library budget dropped more than 23 percent this fiscal year, prompting officials to cut hours nearly
one-tenth countywide. The department also lost 160 positions during the last two years.
“We’re hoping it doesn’t happen,” Parker Hamilton, director of Montgomery’s public libraries, said of Leggett’s suggestion. “We’ve been looking for creative ways to operate with less money for the last three years. We were at that nothing-left-to-cut point last year.”
The “low-hanging fruit” is also gone for the departments of transportation
and health and human services. Each saw their budgets reduced by millions of dollars last fiscal year, when they were slashed by more than 21 percent and nearly 10 percent, respectively.
