FY23 Budget Maintains Tax Rate and Services
The Mayor and Council in May adopted a $148.8 million city budget that maintains city services, addresses COVID-19 pandemic recovery, and focuses on priorities such as implementing the Comprehensive Plan, environmental sustainability and the Climate Action Plan, Vision Zero, economic development, and financial sustainability.
The adopted budget for Fiscal Year 2023, which begins July 1, is an increase of 5.4% over the Fiscal Year 2022 adopted budget.
It includes funding for 13.7 new full-time equivalent positions, including a boards and commissions coordinator; Americans With Disabilities Act coordinator; senior projects manager; principal buyer; culture, arts and history coordinator; grants manager; cybersecurity specialist; sustainability program manager; and police major.
The adopted budget keeps the city’s real property tax rate at $0.292 per $100 of assessed valuation. All residential and commercial property owners pay this tax. Rockville has not increased the property tax rate since 1995.
New water and sewer rates take effect with the start of the fiscal year this month and will be phased in, appearing on monthly utility bills beginning in August and on quarterly bills beginning in October. The water usage charge per 1,000 gallons, assuming an average usage of 14,000 gallons per quarter, will be $7.30, up from $6.38 in FY 2022. The sewer usage charge per 1,000 gallons will be $10.74, up from $10.54. The budget also includes an increase of $20 per year for recycling and trash collection and an increase in the annual stormwater management fee, to $138 for a single-family residence or customer of equivalent size, following four years at $132.
The budget benefits from a $3.8 million increase in property tax duplication revenue. The Mayor and Council helped secure a legislative victory earlier this year making municipalities eligible for millions of dollars in reimbursements that were significantly underfunded by the county for more than two decades.
The Mayor and Council appropriated $7.6 million in Fiscal Year 2022 from the American Rescue Plan Act, which provides federal aid to state and local governments to help offset budgetary, economic and financial impacts of the pandemic. There is $2 million in ARPA funds yet to be programmed for future use.
For more information, visit www.rockvillemd.gov/budget, where the adopted budget will be posted this month.