What in the County Budget Will Affect Wheaton?

Montgomery County Council will be holding public comment on FY12’s budget today, as well as on Wednesday and Thursday. While many proposed cuts will happen at the county level, we’ve decided to look at cuts and changes that will likely affect the Wheaton area, going into each section of the recommended budget County Executive Ike Leggett .  The numbers below are the level of cuts with increases in cost sharing for insurance and pensions for Montgomery County employees.

While this is in no way an exhaustive list related to Wheaton, here’s some line items that will affect the area that you might have missed. 

Fire and Safety :

• Elimination of the High School Cadet program:

Savings: $200,000

Future Costs for Fire and Safety:

• $40,000 a year for five years (starting FY13) on operating costs related to the moving of the Wheaton Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad to its new building.
• $285,000 in FY15, then $342,000 for two years after that for operating costs related to the new Fire Station 18 in Glenmont (the building will be built using capital improvement project budget, separate from the operating budget).

Libraries

• Increase of $47,000 (to $3.05 million) for new materials purchases across the county.
• Wheaton Library retains its label of an “area” library - which provides full library services to their immediate and surround areas (larger selection of books, programming, open on Sundays, etc.)
• Four library branches, including Silver Spring, become neighborhood libraries - focused on popular selections, limited in-person information staff, limited programming.

Savings: $1.2 million over 4 libraries - including Twinbrook, Chevy Chase, Long Branch and Silver Spring.

Police

• Eliminate Police Satellite Facilities (Olney, Long Branch, East County). Wheaton Central Business District Satellite stays.

Savings: $20,000

• Eliminate School Resource Officer program

Savings: $1.05 million

• Add: Staff enhancements to the 3rd district (Silver Spring)

Cost: $2.93 million

• Decrease cost: Operating expenses, speed camera program, due to “decline in number of citations".  Police collected $5 million less than budgeted in FY11, down 37 percent from the year before.

Savings: $2.42 million

Recreation

• Eliminate operational support for regional youth advisory groups and teen special events

Savings: $92,000

• Add: Outreach and special projects

Cost: $10,000

• Eliminate youth sports, except for basketball

Savings: $147,000

• Reduce printed copies of Rec Guide, encourage online use

Savings: $70,000