Rockville’s Mayor and Council continue budget deliberations this month with a public hearing and work session focused on crafting a Fiscal Year 2019 budget that outlines the city’s priorities.
Offer Ideas
• At www.rockvillemd.gov/budget.
• At public hearings during the March 19 and April 9 Mayor and Council meetings.
Budget at a Glance
• Monday, March 5: Work session.
• Monday, March 19: Public hearing.
• Monday, April 9: Public hearing.
• Friday, April 13: Public record closes.
• Monday, April 23: Work session.
• Monday, May 14: Budget adoption.
• Meetings are live streamed at www.rockvillemd.gov/rockville11; and available a day after each meeting at www.rockvillemd.gov/videoondemand.
City Manager Rob DiSpirito presented the Mayor and Council with a FY 2019 budget proposal on Feb. 26. Find the proposed budget at www.rockvillemd.gov/budget and video of the presentation with the Feb. 26 meeting listing at www.rockvillemd.gov/AgendaCenter.
“This budget focuses on the health, safety, and overall well-being of the Rockville community,” DiSpirito wrote in a letter presenting the proposal.
The budget, which covers the fiscal year that begins July 1, is scheduled for adoption by the Mayor and Council on Monday, May 14.
The proposed FY 2019 operating budget of $136.2 million is an increase of 4.5 percent over the total operating budget for FY 2018. The general fund budget, which supports the largest portion of the operating budget, is $82.1 million, a 3 percent increase.
The city’s current real property tax rate of $0.292 per $100 of assessed valuation would remain the same for FY19. All residential and commercial property owners pay this tax.
Property tax, the city’s largest source of general fund revenue, is estimated to increase by 4.5 percent from FY18, to $42.7 million, due to higher property assessments during the most recent round, new properties on the tax roll and an increase in personal property tax revenue consistent with recent trends. Income tax, the city’s second-largest single source of general fund revenue, is estimated to increase by 4.6 percent, to $14 million.
Rockville Utilities
Rockville operates six enterprise funds, four of which are utility funds. They function like a private business, with costs fully recovered through user charges. The utility funds are the water fund, the sewer fund, the refuse fund, and the stormwater management fund. Three of these funds – water, sewer and stormwater management – include proposed rate increases for Fiscal Year 2019. These rate increases are necessary to repair and replace aging water and sewer pipes and other infrastructure vital to providing these services, and for required payments to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission related to a regional wastewater treatment plant.
For the city’s water and sewer customers, rates for a residential property with a 3/4-inch meter and 15,000 gallons of usage will increase approximately 6.3 percent. Recycling and refuse service will remain at $445 per household per year. Stormwater management rates are proposed to increase by $4.30, or 3.4 percent, to $132 per year. For tables illustrating the annual financial impact of changes to the city’s fees and charges for two sample households, see page 22 of the proposed budget at www.rockvillemd.gov/budget.
The number of fulltime positions funded by the proposal includes two new police officers, a new geographic information systems/asset management support specialist, a new urban forestry maintenance worker, and a new information systems security engineer. Costs for these new positions were partially offset by eliminating three vacant positions and some temporary employee funding.
The proposal also includes a 1 percent cost-of-living adjustment and an average 3.5 percent step increase for all regular employees; wage increases for temporary employees to a rate that is comparable with those of neighboring jurisdictions; increases in overtime, mostly attributed to police; and increases for the cost of city-provided health care benefits.
The proposed FY 2019-2023 Capital Improvements Program, the five-year plan for funding new construction and infrastructure maintenance, includes $23.3 million in new funding, combined with a carryover of $42.9 million to support 46 projects during the fiscal year. The proposed budget includes funding for nine newly-funded projects:
- Electronic plan submission and review software.
- Dogwood Park renovations.
- Isreal Park shelter replacement.
- Pervious parking lot replacement at Fallsgrove Park.
- Pedestrian bridge repairs at the Rockville Metro Station.
- Water Treatment Plant raw water infrastructure protection.
- Water Treatment Plant safety improvements.
- Improvements to the Gude maintenance and emergency operations facility.
- An enclosure at the Gude facility for recyclable materials collected for transfer.
There is no taxpayer-supported debt issue planned for FY19. The water fund plans to issue $6.1 million in bonds and the sewer fund plans to issue $6.5 million in bonds, to support water and sewer fund projects in FY19 and FY 2020.