The city of Gaithersburg might hold fewer events later this year than usual, both to save money and maintain social distancing guidelines in place during the coronavirus pandemic.
The mayor and City Council discussed a revised budget at a virtual meeting Monday night that would cut the proposed $72 million fiscal year 2021 budget by about $3.3 million.
The cuts are happening because city officials are projecting a drop in tax revenue during the pandemic.
The mayor and council held a public hearing on the budget last week and are scheduled to vote on the budget June 1. Fiscal year 2021 starts July 1.
Among the cuts City Manager Tony Tomasello proposed are $427,000 to the parks, recreation and culture portion of the budget. This includes about $125,000 in cuts that would eliminate events such as the city’s Labor Day parade in September and Oktoberfest, which is held in the Kentlands.
Council members said on Monday that it would be wise to either cancel or reduce the scope of some events, anticipating that some social distancing restrictions will still be in place in the fall.
“What we don’t want is to retreat back to normal and then have to start back all over again,” Council Member Neil Harris said.
Council Member Mike Sesma said that with long-running events, such as the Labor Day parade, it would be difficult to control crowd size.
“You can spread the parade out … but you remember what it’s like when you go down the streets on the trolley and you look at the crowds. There’s no way to police that,” he said.
Sesma said a better approach might be phasing in smaller events, such as outdoor concerts.
“You don’t want to eliminate things … but I think it is something we have to think about,” he said. “In some ways, the smaller events, the outdoor events and park performances, might be easier to have social distancing within the neighborhood and might be important in terms of providing some entertainment and diversion for our neighbors on a smaller scale.”
Council Member Robert Wu suggested leaving money in the budget for events later in the fiscal year, so the city can decide later whether to have them, if there is no longer a public health emergency.
“We budget for it, and then make the decision on the facts going forward,” he said.
Tomasello, who is set to step down from the city on May 7, said there is flexibility in the budget to reallocate money as needed.
“The budget for special events is the budget for special events. It’s not for a specific event,” he said.
Other proposed cuts include $818,000 in reductions to the personnel portion of the budget, including:
- A 90-day hiring freeze for vacancies
- Holding off on adding a police officer, a full-time public works employee and a rental housing inspector. If economic conditions improve, the positions would be added.
- Eliminating all other proposed new positions in the city.
The public works portion of the budget proposes cuts of up to $385,000, which includes not hiring seasonal employees and deferring facilities projects such as waterproofing the drainage facilities at City Hall and installing new geothermal heating system at a city youth center.
“These are items that if we defer them, it would not be a life safety issue, but we should do them in fiscal year 2022,” said Michael Johnson, the city’s public works director.
The city might also defer funding for its involvement in the Safe Routes to School study – a national program focused on pedestrian safety for children who walk and bike to school
“That study, which was around $45,000, we felt was an item we could defer for another year. But we feel it’s an item that’s a good partnership between the city and Montgomery County Public Schools,” Johnson said.
In the Capital Improvements Plan, just over $1 million in cuts is proposed, the largest chunk of which is $875,000 for the construction of a new public works facility. Additionally, the revised budget proposes cutting $260,000 for art projects at 16. S. Summit Ave. and in Olde Towne.
“We’ve tried not to hinder projects that were under construction or close to construction through the cuts that we’ve looked at,” said Deputy City Manager Dennis Enslinger, who will take over the city manager duties next month on an interim basis.
The mayor and City Council could make more changes to the budget in the month before voting on final adoption.
The public can submit comments by email at cityhall@gaithersburgmd.gov, by phone at 301-258-6310 or by mail at 31 S. Summit Ave., Gaithersburg, MD 20877.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@moco360.media
