A $168.3 million city budget adopted by the Mayor and Council in May maintains city services and emphasizes priorities and focus areas for the year ahead.
The adopted budget for Fiscal Year 2025, which begins July 1, is an increase of 7.1% over the Fiscal Year 2024 adopted budget. It 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.
A recent study resulted in the Mayor and Council adopting a set of water and sewer rates for FY 2025-2027. The water usage charge per 1,000 gallons, which assumes average use of 14,000 gallons per quarter, will be $7.96 in FY 2025, up from $7.44. The sewer usage charge per 1,000 gallons will be $11.06, up from $10.90. The budget also includes an increase of $32 per year for recycling and trash collection and a $6 increase in the annual storm-water management fee, to $152 for a single-family residence or customer of equivalent size.
The Capital Improvements Program includes new appropriations of $34.5 million to support 48 projects, including Americans with Disability Act improvements to the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre, ongoing conversion to LED streetlights, improvements to David Scull Park and Lincoln Park Community Center, renovation of the Maintenance and Emergency Operations Facility at 6 Taft Court, and implementation of the RedGate Park and Arboretum master plan. The Mayor and Council also funded items related to the city’s Comprehensive Plan, Climate Action Plan and Vision Zero Action Plan.
The operating budget includes the addition of six police officers, a pilot enforcement assistance program to help residents facing hardship bring their property into code compliance, a program access supervisor to aid people with disabilities in accessing city recreation and park programs, a senior transportation engineer, a building plans examiner, and a $1.4 million allocation to Rockville Economic Development, Inc. that includes support for business incentive funds and a branding project to enhance Rockville’s appeal to the life sciences business sector.
For more information, visit www.rockvillemd.gov/budget, where the adopted budget will be posted in July.