Council Committees Meet

The Montgomery County Council’s Public Safety Committee at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 11, will begin its review of the Fiscal Year 2014 operating budget request of  the county’s Police Department. The review is part of the Council’s examination of the recommended budget presented by County Executive Isiah Leggett.

In April and May, the Council will review the Executive’s recommended budget as it works toward adopting the FY14 County operating budget in late May. The budget will go into effect on July 1.

The Public Safety Committee, which is chaired by Phil Andrews and includes Councilmembers Roger Berliner and Marc Elrich, will meet in the Seventh Floor Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). The broadcast also will be streamed through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov.

Overall, the Police Department budget for FY14 would be $260.6 million, a 4 percent increase from the FY13 approved budget.

The County Executive’s recommended budget for the Police Department would implement the second year of a three-year staffing plan by adding 35 officers and five new civilian positions. The increased staffing would include six new School Resource Officers. The department will have two recruit classes in FY14, with 67 candidates in the summer class and 68 in the winter class.

The recommended budget would double the number of patrol officers in the Wheaton Central Business District and would increase the number of officers assigned to the Montgomery Village area by 10 (from 26 to 36).

The budget also would add a crisis intervention team officer, who would help the response to mental health-related calls, and an animal cruelty investigator.

The budget request for the Sheriff’s Office would include possible expansion of the Family Justice Center in Rockville. The additional space would lead to the hiring of more counselors, an enhanced volunteer and intern program, and a medical forensic unit.

At 9:30 a.m. in the Third Floor Conference Room, the Health and Human Services Committee, which is chaired by George Leventhal and includes Councilmembers Nancy Navarro and Craig Rice, will hold a worksession on the 100,000 Homes Campaign that seeks to end homelessness through a plan with four major initiatives.

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