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Montgomery County FY22 Budget Update:
On March 15, County Executive Marc Elrich released a $6.7 billion budget plan for FY22. You can explore the budget through the Open Budget website, which allows for an in-depth view of budget areas.
Of interest to nonprofits: In a sign of progress for nonprofits, the County Executive’s budget includes a 1.5% inflationary increase for all base budget contracts for nonprofits in the DHHS budget. This is the same increase the County Executive proposed in the FY21 budget (later removed when the County Council adopted a “same services” budget.) Nonprofit Montgomery is advocating for a 3% inflationary increase in nonprofit contracts in all departments—not just HHS. An estimated 90% of nonprofit contracts are in the Department of Health and Human Services.
The County Executive’s budget also includes $9,644,887 for 227 Community Grants, retaining most of the grants funded in FY21. An additional 23 grants totaling $711,500 are recommended for inclusion in the base budget. This continues the trend started last year, when $3.8 million in Community Grants were evaluated and recommended for base budget contracts. Adding up FY22 recommended grants and programs moved to base budget contracts over both years totals $14.2 million in funding—maintaining the same level of funding as in FY21. You can see the list of recommended grants here, and programs recommended for the base budget here. Learn more about the future of Community Grants at our March 24, 11am Nonprofit Covid-19 Response Meeting.
Cost Sharing Capital Improvement Grants are not included in the County Executive’s recommendations. Those projects will be considered if they align with the State of Maryland’s bond bill issued projects.
Also worth noting: the County Executive’s proposed budget adds $5 million to the Early Care and Education Initiative in DHHS, supports $3.6 million for service delivery hubs and provides a record amount of funding for affordable housing and expands Rapid Rehousing and Rental Assistance programs.