Montgomery County Executive Elrich highlights education, affordable housing during State of the County address
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MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) — Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich gave his State of the County address on Thursday night, highlighting the county’s fiscal health and reflecting on how the county is trying to tackle the issues that matter to people, such as education and affordable housing.
Elrich said the county is exceeding its target of 10% in reserves for another year.
“We’re projecting $957 million in reserves. Over 15% of our budget by the end of FY24. That’s testament to our prudent financial strategies. Just because money comes in doesn’t mean we went out and spent it immediately,” said Marc Elrich, Montgomery County Executive.
Elrich said the county’s good fiscal standing has allowed them to continue to invest in several sectors including education, public safety and affordable housing.
He spoke about the county’s record investment in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and how they are able to invest without raising taxes. He also noted that a lot of the budget goes to paying teachers.
“We’re increasing funding for Montgomery County Public Schools. Our kids and our educators need the resources to succeed and that’s exactly what we’re going to provide,” Elrich said.
Elrich said they have proposed a way to fully fund MCPS.
“I’m proud to recommend [the] budget includes a substantial increase in funding MCPS. If approved, this budget will mark the third largest increase ever allocated to MCPS, totaling $107 billion. This is the largest increase they ever had that didn’t require a tax increase,” Elrich said. “There’s a way to fund this without the need to increase class sizes, without cutting programs, without raising taxes and we can even avoid even going into the reserves.”
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On the issue of affordable housing, Elrich said they are expanding partnerships with non-profits to preserve existing affordable units, create new affordable units and create new programs to protect tenants from being distanced.
During his speech, the county executive made the connection between affordable housing and a child’s education.
“When you’re low income and you have to move every time the rent goes up, you’re changing schools, you’re changing teachers and you’re changing your community. Maybe adults can manage because their community is bigger than the school. But [for] kids, a whole new set of students next to them is really challenging,” Elrich said.
Elrich stressed the importance of stability for children, which is often reflected in their school work.
“I saw this as a teacher: when a kid comes to school hungry in the morning, they’re not learning. They sit in the chair crying and they don’t want to tell anybody,” said Elrich. “That’s a real thing that happens in Montgomery County. When your parents are moving every year, moving more than every year because they can’t pay the rent, their whole lives are unstable.”
On the matter of public safety, Elrich talked about steps being taken to recruit more officers and how they plan to tackle youth crime with programs instead of giving young people a criminal record.
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