Sign up opportunities are now underway for residents to offer their views on County Executive Marc Elrich’s proposed $6.3 billion Fiscal Year 2023 operating budget at public hearings that will be held by the County Council on April 19, 20 and 21.
The public hearings will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19, and Wednesday, April 20, and at 7 p.m. on April 19, 20 and Thursday, April 21. Residents will have the opportunity to testify both in-person and virtually via Zoom for the daytime public hearings on April 19 and 20. The evening public hearings on April 19, 20 and 21 will be conducted virtually.
County Executive Elrich presented his recommended budget to the Council on March 15. The Council will review the budget and adopt the new County budget in late May. The new budget will go into effect on July 1.
Residents can sign up to testify by clicking the “sign up” button for public hearings on the Council’s calendar. Individuals will receive a confirmation email with the appropriate instructions to participate in the meetings. Help to sign up is available by calling 240-777-7803.
The registration deadline for the operating budget public hearings is 5 p.m. on April 18.
Residents also can submit written or prerecorded audio or video testimony for Councilmembers to consider throughout their budget deliberations. While this testimony will not be aired during the Council’s public hearing, all comments provided will be reviewed by Councilmembers and will be available to the public on the Council’s web page. The form to upload comments is available here.
The deadline to submit testimony is midnight two business days before Council action. Written testimony also can be mailed to the Montgomery County Council at 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville, Md. 20850.
Residents can view the public hearings on County Cable Montgomery on Xfinity (Channels 996 or 6), RCN (Channels 1056 or 6) and Verizon (Channel 30). The public hearings also will be available via streaming on the Council’s Facebook (@MontgomeryCountyMdCouncil) or YouTube (@MoCoCouncilMD) pages or the Council website at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/OnDemand/index.html.
For residents who are not English dominant, arrangements for interpretation services can be made for testifying by contacting Lucia Jimenez at Lucia.Jimenez@montgomerycountymd.gov or by calling 240-777-7832. Requests for interpretation services must be made three working days prior to the Council public hearing date.
Comments and suggestions are welcome online at http://tinyurl.com/zrbwh5v; via email at county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov; by sending regular mail to County Council, 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville, Md. 20850; or by calling the Council’s budget hotline at 240-777-7802. Residents also can provide comments on the operating budget via social media using #MoCoFY23.
Information on the County's 2023 operating budget can be found at: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/omb/publications.html.