Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett is proposing big increases in spending for pedestrian safety programs while the county struggles with a $520 million budget deficit and is eyeing 400 job cuts and service reductions.
Leggett is proposing an additional $142,000 to speed up the county’s efforts at resetting traffic signals so pedestrians have more time to cross streets, $250,000 for consultants to help with an educational outreach program, and another $250,000 to accelerate implementing a program designed to make children’s walks to school safer.
Increased pedestrian safety has long been a priority for Leggett, who has proposed nearly doubling the number of speed cameras in the county to help pay for the new costs.
But proposed additions to the budget, no matter how well-intentioned, will have a tough time being approved by the county council unless they address a specific, urgent need, said Council President Phil Andrews.
“It’s not the year to increase spending without an extraordinarily good reason,” Andrews said.
Council staff are recommending scaling back some of Leggett’s proposed increases.
“Pedestrian safety is a very high priority, and it is not surprising that the executive wishes to step up funding,” wrote Glenn Orlin, deputy council staff director, in a memo to the county council last week. “But the magnitude of the proposed pedestrian safety program increases are astonishing.”
Leggett’s staff said county residents frequently complained about the short amount of time given to cross the street. And without the increased spending, it would take 25 years before the county can address traffic dangers for students walking to school.
They also said the county was required to spend revenues from speed cameras on improving public safety. Nineteen pedestrians died in 2008, up from 17 in both 2006 and 2007, according to county police.
Several collisions between pedestrians and vehicles occurred outside of crosswalks. In February, a 49-year-old man was seriously injured when he was struck crossing Route 355 in Gaithersburg. In November, a 27-year-old man was killed when a car hit him outside of a Rockville crosswalk.
