Budget Highlights
The County Council adopted the FY 23 Operating and Capital Budgets. The total Operating Budget adopted equals $5.08 billion. The General Fund portion of the budget of $4.226 billion is $432 million over the approved FY 2022 budget of $3.795 billion for an increase of 11.4%. The County Council approved the Board of Education Operating Budget in the amount of $2.63 billion. In addition, we approved the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC) Operating Budget at $549.4 million and its Capital Budget for $153.5 million. There are no increases in tax rates. The WSSC FY 23 Operating Budget is $864.6 million, and the Capital Budget totals $606.2 million. There will be a WSSC Rate Increase of 6.5%. Additional budgets that the Council is responsible for approving include the Revenue Authority budget of $41,393,800 and the Redevelopment Authority budget of $661,300.
During the COVID-19 financial response and current economy recovery, Prince George's County still maintains the AAA Bond rating, and has maintained this rating from all three major bond rating agencies since FY 2012.
The Department of Family Services will have a total budget of $7,068,100 that will include $200,000 additional funding to the Youth Services Bureaus and $75,000 for senior support services. The Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department will receive $2 million for this year and $6.9 million for next year to build a new Rescue Squad Station for the Laurel Fire/EMS #849 (Laurel Volunteer Rescue Squad) after more than 20 years bouncing around the budget. The Department of Public Works and Transportation will receive an additional $3.5 million for road repairs, totaling $33 million and translating to $3.68 million per Council District.
Electric Vehicles Infrastructure
I am proud to report back that our legislation requiring electric vehicle infrastructure in all future residential buildings was enacted by the Prince George's County Council on Tuesday, June 7th.As gas prices are climbing, the demand for electric and hybrid vehicles is increasing. I presented County Bill-15-2022 in March of this year to accelerate the transition to green technology. Following Federal and State commitments to electric vehicle (EV) charging ports, CB-15-2022 will ensure all single-family residential homes approved after 2022 will have level 2 charging ports built into the property for future use. As the number of electric vehicles in Maryland has increased from roughly 18,000 in December of 2020 to nearly 50,000 as of November of 2021, with a projection of 790,000 electric vehicles by 2030, the time to act is now. The cost for charging stations ranges from below $1,000, up to $4,000 per port. Thus, CB-15-2022 ensures that the cost of retrofitting properties for the charging ports will not be borne by the homeowners and will codify one of the recommendations from the county's Climate Action Plan.
I would like to thank all my colleagues and stakeholders such as County residents, PEPCO and the Maryland Builders Association for their great work to ensure our County continues to move in the right direction.
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