Money for schools, city-provided services and a fair share of state dollars for recreation facilities again make the list of proposed priorities for the City of Rockville to advocate for at the county level in 2018.
The priorities, which were scheduled for a Feb. 26 discussion by the Mayor and Council, set a framework for promoting and protecting Rockville’s interests when working with county officials on issues of mutual interest.
They are:
Capital projects at Rockville schools, including replacement of Twinbrook and Maryvale/Carl Sandburg elementary schools and Thomas S. Wootton High School, and an addition to Richard Montgomery High School.
Payments by the county to reimburse the city for providing certain services, such as road and bridge maintenance and police services. The county’s current reimbursement to the city for road maintenance is about $3.2 million short of full funding, according to the Montgomery chapter of the Maryland Municipal League. The full funding amount is based on a formula that pegs reimbursement to what the county spends on maintenance per road mile each year.
Funding through Program Open Space, which provides counties with state aid for planning, acquiring and developing land for recreational facilities. Last year, a coalition that included the mayors and recreation and parks staff from Rockville and Gaithersburg, with support of County Councilmember Sidney Katz, convinced the County Council that POS funding was unfairly going solely toward county projects. Rockville received POS funding for the first time since Fiscal Year 2010, with nearly $576,000 to renovate the Rockville Swim and Fitness Center. City staff is proposing that the city uses the same advocacy approach this year to ensure Rockville gets its fair share of aid.
For more details on these priorities, contact Linda Moran at lmoran@rockvillemd.gov or 240-314-8115.