Council Committees Meet on May 3

The Montgomery County Council’s Public Safety Committee will meet on May 3 at 9:30 a.m. to discuss the use of revenue that will be collected from the County’s new Emergency Medical Transport (ambulance) fee. The worksession is part of the Council’s examination of the recommended Fiscal Year 2014 operating budget presented by County Executive Isiah Leggett.

The Council has been reviewing 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 includes Councilmembers Roger Berliner and Marc Elrich, will meet in the Third Floor Conference 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.

The Public Safety Committee will be addressing Bill 7-13 that would set aside 15 percent of the net revenue collected from the ambulance fee and allocate it for the benefit of the local fire and rescue departments. The bill would implement a Memo of Understanding that the County Executive signed with the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association in 2012.

The Public Safety Committee also will continue its review of the FY14 budget request of the Montgomery Fire and Rescue Service.

At 9:30 a.m. in the Seventh Floor Hearing Room, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee, which is chaired by George Leventhal and includes Councilmembers Nancy Navarro and Craig Rice, will continue its review of the budget request of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The HHS Committee also will hold its second worksession on the budget request of the Montgomery County Historical Society. On April 18, the committee unanimously approved the $32,250 budget request for the society, but committee members expressed concern when they learned about the inability to access historical records, the deterioration of existing archival records, the potential destruction of County government documents of historical value and about non-compliance with the Maryland standards related to archival records.

At that meeting, the Department of General Services reported that it would require $80,000 to build a climate-controlled facility within the Records Center to house Montgomery County Archives. Since that meeting, it was learned an additional $15,000 is needed, creating a total need of $95,000.

The committee has placed the original $80,000 estimate and a potential $45,000 for the historical society to hire a part-time archivist and for other operating expenses on the list of additional expenditures that are not included in the County Executive’s recommended budget. The Council may decide to fund those items before adopting the operating budget. At Friday’s meeting, it will discuss whether it also wants to add the additional $15,000 to the list of items for funding consideration.

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