{"id":12366,"date":"2020-03-21T13:25:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T17:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=12366"},"modified":"2020-03-21T13:25:40","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T17:25:40","slug":"navarro-claims-council-majority-for-spending-restraint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=12366","title":{"rendered":"Navarro Claims Council Majority for Spending Restraint"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Adam Pagnucco.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last night, Council Member Nancy Navarro, who chairs the\ncouncil\u2019s Government Operations Committee, wrote on my Facebook page that she\nintends to introduce a council resolution on Tuesday calling for major spending\nrestraint in the county\u2019s budget. \nSpecifically, the resolution calls for a same services budget for each\ndepartment and agency; holding Montgomery College and MCPS to maintenance of\neffort (which is the state\u2019s mandated minimum for local appropriations to those\nagencies); and providing flexibility to assist residents and businesses as well\nas to revisit spending after the coronavirus crisis ends.  Navarro claims that Council Members Andrew\nFriedson, Gabe Albornoz, Craig Rice and Hans Riemer are co-sponsoring her\nresolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s worth noting that Navarro is the only current\ncouncil member who was on the council during the budget crisis of 2010<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resolution does not yet appear on the council\u2019s\nagenda for Tuesday<\/a>, but the current text as shared by Navarro appears\nbelow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SUBJECT:\u200b Options for the Approval of and Appropriation for the FY 2021 Operating Budget Background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. \u200bAs required by Section 303 of the County Charter, the\nCounty Executive sent to the County Council the FY 2021 Operating Budget on\nMarch 16, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. \u200bAs required by Section 304 of the County Charter, the\nCouncil must hold public hearings on the proposed operating budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. \u200bA new coronavirus disease, called Covid-19, has\nspread extremely quickly, making its way to over 100 countries, including the\nUnited States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.\u200b On March 11, the World Health Organization officially\ndeclared the Covid-19 viral disease a pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5.\u200b The number of new cases in the United States is\ngrowing quickly and has spread to each of the 50 States, the District of\nColumbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the US Virgin Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.\u200b To slow the spread of this communicable disease,\nGovernor Hogan issued several emergency orders closing all non-essential\nbusinesses, restricting public transit, closing schools, prohibiting public gatherings\nof 10 persons or more, and postponing the Presidential Primary Election in\nMaryland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. \u200bAlthough County government operations are continuing\nduring this pandemic, County employees are using situational teleworking\nwherever possible to perform their duties. Due to the need to limit person to\nperson contact, many County residents have lost paychecks and many County\nbusinesses have lost revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. \u200bThe Executive was required by the Charter to develop\nhis recommended FY2021 Operating Budget before the most recent events clarified\nthe full extent of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. \u200bConsidering this unprecedented global pandemic and\nnational state of emergency, the Council must move expeditiously to provide\ncontinuity of operations in approving an operating budget for FY2021 that\nprovides additional flexibility to help County residents and businesses\nrecover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Action\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The County Council for Montgomery County, Maryland\napproves the following resolution:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. \u200bThe Council directs staff to develop viable options\nto streamline our budget process, so that for FY 2021, the Council may adopt an\naggregate operating budget for our departments and agencies that reflects a\ncontinuation of the services provided at the same level as FY2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. \u200bThese viable options must include funding the\nOperating Budgets of the County Board of Education and Montgomery College at\nthe required Maintenance of Effort level and should avoid funding any new programs\nunrelated to relief for County residents and businesses from the Covid-19 viral\ndisease pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.\u200b These viable options should include flexibility for possible\nfuture appropriations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a. \u200bto assist County residents and businesses to recover\nfrom the Covid-19 viral disease pandemic; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b. \u200bto provide additional resources for other County\nprograms and employee wage and benefit enhancements, if available, after the\ncrisis is over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a correct copy of Council action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

_________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selena Singleton<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clerk of the Council<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco. Last night, Council Member Nancy Navarro, who chairs the council\u2019s Government Operations Committee, wrote on my Facebook page that she intends to introduce a council resolution on Tuesday calling for major spending restraint in the county\u2019s budget.  Specifically, the resolution calls for a same services budget for each department and agency; holding … Continue reading Navarro Claims Council Majority for Spending Restraint<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[151,33,309],"tags":[1545,1368,1599],"class_list":["post-12366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adam-pagnucco","category-budget","category-nancy-navarro","tag-adam-pagnucco","tag-budget","tag-nancy-navarro"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4mKJE-3ds","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12366"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12368,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12366\/revisions\/12368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}