EXAMINER FILE Ike Leggett wants the Montgomery County school board t find $9.7 million in savings and wants $17 million cut from county departments. Pictured: Lakeland Park Middle School. Critics want long-term economic solution Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett said Thursday he is looking to cut $30 million from the current budget to make up for losses in state aid.
Leggett is asking the county’s school board to find $9.7 million in savings and wants $17 million cut from county departments. He also is asking the heads of tax-supported agencies such as the state’s attorney’s office, the county’s community college and the Sheriff’s Office to cut 0.5 percent to 1 percent of their budgets.
Councilwoman Valerie Ervin, D-Silver Spring, criticized
The state slashed $22.5 million in state aid to the county recently to cope with declining revenue and announced that it would face a $2 billion budget shortfall next fiscal year. Leggett told County Council members in a memo that it was “not likely the state will resolve its budget challenges without further reductions in local aid.”
The county is facing a $370 million budget shortfall next fiscal year, and Leggett warned that “service reductions and midyear layoffs may be required to produce meaningful and reliable savings.”
Ervin said unpaid furloughs for county employees were inevitable, and Leggett should announce them soon so employees could plan for the pay cut.
“The hammer is still out there waiting to hit us on the head,” she said.
Leggett floated the idea of furloughs earlier this summer, but has stressed that they won’t fix all of the county’s budget woes. In an online chat with constituents, Leggett called them “the least desirable option” but said he was still considering them.
School board member Pat O’Neill said the county schools were already on a tight budget, and additional cuts would be tough to find.
“We’ll do our best to do our part,” she said.
Sheriff Raymond Kight said the cuts could mean he wouldn’t be able to hire new staff. The proposed cuts translate to a roughly $103,000 reduction to his department.
“That means a lot, because we’re bare bones now,” Kight said.
