The Montgomery County Council held a full-day worksession on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, to review the FY27 Operating Budget and FY27-32 Capital Improvements Program (CIP). The meeting ran from 9:32 a.m. to 3:18 p.m., with a recess from 11:14 a.m. to 1:32 p.m. Councilmembers present included President Fani-González, Vice President Balcombe, and members Evans, Friedson, Glass, Jawando, Katz, Luedtke, Mink, Sayles (virtual), and Stewart. The Council approved a consent calendar and voted on multiple departmental budgets, often with amendments.
Good morning, everyone. Today's Wednesday, May 6. The Council is meeting again today to continue to the review of the FY27 operating budget and capital improvements program. Madam Clerk, would you please chair today's agendas? Good morning. Today's agenda has been revised to reflect that consent budget items 1D, device client management, nondepartmental account, and item one R, Department of Permitting Services has been removed from the agenda. And both items have been rescheduled for work sessions on Friday, May 8th. Also, Councilmember Sales is attending today's meeting virtually. Thank you. Noted. Thank you. So we are gonna the first item on today's agenda is the consent calendar for FY27 operating budget and FY27-32 capital improvements program. Is there a motion to approve the budget consent calendar? So move to move second. No. Move by Councilmember Sydney Katz. Second by Councilmember Don Luki. Those in favor, please raise your hand any passes unanimously unanimously with those present. We don't have Councilmember Make yet. We're gonna move on to the first item. Now we're we're gonna discuss in the real department budgets. We're gonna start with the Department of Housing and Community Affairs. If you're from the department, please move forward. I see the director here. And I'm gonna turn it to the chair of the PHP committee to kick us off. Thank you, Madam President. Uh welcoming up the Department of Housing Community Affairs. Uh Council staff is there. Uh the county executive recommends a total of uh FY27 funding level of 77 million seven hundred twenty-nine thousand one hundred ten dollars. That is a decrease of 7.1 percent over the FY26 operating budget. Expenditures are partially supported by revenue collections estimated at uh almost $62 million, which is actually a slight increase over the FY26 amount. Um the PHP committee voted three to nothing to recommend approval of the FY27 operating budget for DHCA as recommended, including placing the following items on the reconciliation list. The position to implement eviction notification, Bill 3125, uh that's 125,180. Position for implementation of Bill 225E, that's 121320. Uh those are both uh two additional FTEs. Compensation for grant funded positions that exceed the grant award and the amount of 277,497, backfill of federal funding reduction to continue supporting fair housing testing in the amount of 25,000. The PHP committee also voted three to nothing to recommend approval on the following CIP projects that were transmitted by the executive as part of his March CIP amendments, countywide facade that include an additional six hundred thousand of state aid, uh which we appreciate and thank our state partners for their work. White Oak commercial area improvements and revitalization CIP. That program is an additional 75,000 of state aid in FY27 compared to what was anticipated from the January transmittal. Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund, the AHAF CIP. This defers $5 million in loan repayment proceeds from FY28 instead to FY29 as compared to the January transmittal and revitalization for troubled and distressed common ownership communities. Uh that programs an additional $3.63 million in loan repayment proceeds over the six-year CIP. The PHP committee also voted three to nothing to approve and amend the Affordable Housing Acquisition and Preservation CIP, uh approved the county executive's March CIP amendment, which programs $239.9 million for affordable housing loans, including a total of $86 million in new appropriations for FY27. In addition, the committee voted uh originally to program $4 million above the executive's March CIP and taxable HIF bonds in FY27, but part of the recommendation was to ask staff uh to analyze and determine resources needed so that we could equalize the new FY27 appropriations to the appropriations in FY26 to ensure level funding for our primary affordable housing program. That was the clear uh committee intent. We heard back from council staff, DHCA and OMB staff uh who reviewed the FY26 appropriations and came up with a different number. Uh and so that is the official committee recommendation is confirmed by colleagues uh that will be before the body. And just to explain it, uh they looked at the 10.1 million of loan repayment proceeds received in the project in mid uh mid-year of this year. And the council would then need an additional five point nine million, not four million, but five point nine million above the executive's recommendation uh to the CIP in order to ensure level uh funding. Uh just to note uh very clearly uh that recommendation is 5.9 million.