Rockville’s $175.5 million budget, adopted May 5, maintains city services and emphasizes the Mayor and Council’s focus areas of public safety, economic development and housing.
The budget for Fiscal Year 2026, which begins July 1, is a 4.2% increase over the FY 2025 budget.
The city’s real property tax rate of $0.292 per $100 of assessed valuation remains the same. It has not increased since 1995. All residential and commercial property owners pay this tax. Utility rates and user fees will increase between 2% and 6%, on average, with some fees and charges remaining the same.
The Mayor and Council’s budget work included adjusting funding for community services and enrichment grants and reserving $1.1 million in the city’s general fund for major initiatives to be considered during FY26.
“Although the city’s financial outlook is positive, we, along with many other jurisdictions in the Washington, D.C., metro area, remain cautious about the impacts of proposed changes from the new federal administration,” City Manager Jeff Mihelich said. “Enhanced funding for community services and enrichment grants provided in the FY 2026 budget will help provide increased community assistance for essential needs and emergency support as the full impact of federal workforce reductions to local employment rates is not yet known.”
About $10 million in new funding for public safety will support the city’s Vision Zero Action Plan and Pedestrian Master Plan, a closed-circuit tele-vision modernization initiative at city facilities, two new full-time civilian positions in the Rockville City Police Department, support for increased officer recruit-ment incentive programs, and funding for RCPD’s annual gun buyback. More than $1.5 million will promote safety and quality in city drinking water and the water treatment plant, and $250,000 will provide a new emergency response vehicle for the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department.
The budget also includes $1.5 million for Rockville Economic Development, Inc., and five new full-time positions to support plan reviews, permit issuance and inspections, including the reinstatement of expedited building permit review processes.
Other initiatives include $1 million for the Housing Opportunities Fund to promote preservation and addition of affordable housing, launch an employee homeownership assistance program, and begin development of a homeownership down payment assistance program. Two new full-time positions will help expand city housing programs.
The FY 2026-FY 2030 Capital Improvements Program for funding construction and infrastructure maintenance will support 66 projects in FY26. It includes a new entrance for the Rockville Senior Center property, completion of the maintenance and emergency operations facility at the Taft Center, renovations to Lincoln Park Community Center, and improvements to the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre.
For more information, including the adopted FY26 budget document, when it is posted in July, visit www.rockvillemd.gov/budget.