On April 15, 2026, the Montgomery County Public Safety Committee (Chair Sidney Katz, Councilmembers Dawn Luedtke and Kristin Mink) met from 9:30 a.m. to 11:03 a.m. to review the County Executive's recommended FY27 Operating Budget for five agencies: Office of Animal Services, Sheriff’s Office, State’s Attorney’s Office, Circuit Court, and the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation. The committee voted unanimously (3-0) on all items, placing several funding requests on the Reconciliation List and approving each budget as amended.
Corrections and rehabilitation. As we begin, I'd like to thank Ms. Farag and Mr. Onbinder for preparing the staff reports for the topics today and for once again and always assembling a most informative package for us. And unless the other committee members have any opening comments, and I'm seeing two shaking of heads, no. I'm going to ask the first panel to please uh introduce themselves and if yes, if they have any opening comments. And then I'm going to ask Ms. Farag to please walk us through the panel. Good morning. Good morning, Your Honor. Judge Carla Smith from the circuit court. Good morning, Tim Sheridan, Court Administrator. Carol Hawkins, Deputy Court Administrator. Good morning. Do you have any opening comments? If not, we'll just make this opening comment. You know we're here. Your Honor, could you move? There you go. You know, we're here to uh discuss a funding gap that we have uh this year. And uh I just want you to know I just left the courthouse, was in the middle of a plea uh with the individual dealing with the DUI per se and a high blood alcohol level, a lot of trauma, need for therapy, et cetera. And I recommended that he apply for our drug court. And that is one of the you know grant positions that we are looking to uh supplement. So I just want you to understand how impactful it is in our community. And I appreciate that. I know that many of us have gone to to see the graduations, if that's what they're calling it, drug court and and and uh mental health court, the problem solving courts, and how they how they change lives for the better. Sometimes it takes a while for someone to get themselves to the better, but how they change lives for the better. So it's certainly there's certain things we can't afford not to do. Absolutely. And with that, sure. Good morning, everyone. Um for the circuit court this year, the recommended increase is about 1.2 million. That's about a 6% increase from the approved budget from last year. If fully approved, the circuit court's budget would be about $21.8 million dollars. The executive's recommendation, which Judge Smith just alluded to, includes about $392,000 in some staff, programmatic and staffing additions, enhancements, and other cost increases that must be placed on the reconciliation list. This year, the council president's approach is to place all new or additional tax supported funding on the reconciliation list. There are some limited exceptions to that, and we can get go through that as we go through the uh staff report. Um the executive's recommended budget also has about $718,000 increase for compensation adjustments, and there's an additional $200,000 for other net cost increases that are not required to be placed on the reconciliation list. The circuit court is not required to submit an operating budget equity tool analysis. It has, however, provided information on its racial equity and social justice efforts over the past year. I have also not identified any potential reductions for committee consideration that were not included in the executive's recommended budget. For the first item, which is described on page three. Um this general fund increase of $391,000 would ensure pay equity between state-funded, which are grant funded, and county funded staff positions who often perform the same work. The Circuit Court advises that they their staff consists of 24 judges, uh six magistrates, 225 employees, clerks of the court, and then they also have 129 employees that are on the county payroll. And it's those employees that we're looking at in this universe. Um the judges and magistrates are all funded by the state, but of the 129 employees on the county payroll, 29 are funded by 4.4 million dollars in state grant funding that the court receives each year. And these state grants reimburse the county for a little more than 90 percent of actual pay and benefits paid for these employees. And since state grants increase annually based on state merit and general wage increases, which historically have been less than those given to county employees, this has created a funding gap that just gets bigger and bigger every year. Um they have not kept pace sufficiently to maintain pay equity among similarly functioning county positions. And again, it impacts 29 of the 129 employees on the county payroll.