Good evening Ward 3 neighbors,
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This update concerns
tomorrow¡¯s City Council meeting
(including a closed session on the recent legal settlement, Piney Branch ES, Council compensation);
Budget Reconciliation so far: areas of agreement last night,
Pinecrest and Lincoln Avenue unresolved items,
budget items still to be discussed on Wednesday night,
more on
the ¡°Atrium¡± Renovation project,
and
other short updates
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Tomorrow¡¯s City Council meeting ()?
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The meeting will again be
conducted via Zoom due to a continuing power outage affecting the Auditorium lights.
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The Council will convene at 6:30 pm and immediately vote to go into
closed session to receive a confidential briefing and discuss the recent settlement in the case of Cooper v. City of Takoma Park.
This matter is of deep concern to me, and I have many questions. Thanks to everyone who has sent me comments and questions about this matter. I have compiled them all (names withheld) and will share them with colleagues. I will try to ensure that all questions
are addressed in the session and will report out afterwards.
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Our regular session will begin with Mayoral Proclamations for National Infertility Awareness Week and Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month, followed by
Public Comments ¨C this will be your last chance to comment on what you wish to see included in the FY26 budget. This will be followed by Council and Manager comments.?
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Next is a
presentation about the . If you take an interest in PBES and questions related to its renovation or expansion to meet growing needs, this segment of the evening is set to last 60 minutes.
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Next, we¡¯ll finalize
plans for forming a as required by City Code. This committee is to be established every four years to review compensation for City Council members and make recommendations to take effect in the next term if adopted by the current Council. This discussion
is expected to take about 20 minutes. I¡¯m advocating for care in ensuring that the selection process leads to an independent committee with a variety of knowledge, expertise, and resident perspectives.?
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We¡¯ll spend the rest of the evening on final budget reconciliation. (The agenda link above contains a link to an Excel spreadsheet.) In a series of
discussions and hand votes, we¡¯ll decide which items from the proposed budget we wish to reconcile (change). This work will inform the drafting of a Fiscal Year 2026 budget resolution. Final votes on the property tax and stormwater fee rates will be taken
in May.
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Budget Reconciliation so far: areas of agreement last night
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Last night the Council held an additional work session on Zoom to do preliminary work on budget reconciliation. With Mayor Searcy managing the workflow, we discussed
perhaps three-quarters of the reconciliation items and took hand-votes on many of the ¡°easy¡± ones. Here are the main outcomes:
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- We held hand-votes indicating unanimous acceptance of most of the
reconciliation items proposed by City staff ¨C generally accounting corrections or changes in projections.?
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- Also, we tentatively approved 7-0 the City Manager¡¯s proposal to
not hire a Communications Specialist as a way of compensating for the addition of a new web manager position.
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- We had 7-0 votes in favor of each one in a set of
sidewalk and traffic-calming proposals that we had discussed last week.
I was clear in campaigning last fall that I would make safe, safely-connected streets (including pedestrian routes) a priority; so I am comfortable with the hand votes taken last night.
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- We all hand-voted in favor of
increases in property tax relief funds (so more cash-strapped homeowners can benefit via a City match associated with a recent County expansion of eligibility).?
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- We had a tentative hand-vote in favor of
doubling funds for Community Quality of Life grants to be aimed at helping people most affected by current political and economic instability. We may need to revisit this allocation tomorrow evening if final budget decisions are tight.
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- We discussed a reconciliation item adding $90,000 total to speed the process of
removing racist restrictive covenant language from all deeds to real property in Takoma Park. This estimated expense is likely to be significantly lower; $40,000 would be for a temporary assistant and up to $50,000 would be for required four-week public
advertising of the changes ¨C although it may be that we could post blanket advertisements of an across-the-board change rather than needing to advertise separately for each address.
I agree with colleagues that this effort, only made possible a couple of weeks ago via a bill passed in the General Assembly, should be pursued. Given Trump administration actions to roll back civil rights protections, it could be that removing restrictive
covenants from deeds is more than a symbolic gesture or correction of an ¡°historic¡± wrong.
?That being said, $90,000 is a lot to add, so I will seek to offset it with budget reductions elsewhere.?
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- We agreed to
increase the tax rate for utility-owned property from $1.57 to $1.75, which will result in a modest revenue increase of about $10,000, with a dispersed impact of about 3 cents per customer given the large number of utility customers in the state.
I had proposed this item because coordination with utilities, particularly around repaving of streets, does take an inordinate amount of City staff follow-up time.
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Pinecrest and Lincoln Avenue unresolved items
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- Additionally, we had preliminary agreement on adding funding ($5,000) for a
speed hump on Orchard Avenue, although it appears that this will be revoted on tomorrow evening.
Orchard Avenue residents: If you have thoughts for or against the construction of one speed hump in the townhome block, please consider submitting a comment to the City Council via an email to
jessiec@... or
by signing up to make a Public Comment via Zoom (see above).
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Lincoln Avenue residents, please take note: Councilmember Dyballa (Ward 2) had proposed that additional funding be included for a traffic study of Lincoln Avenue in Ward 2. (She compensated for this additional item by proposing to postpone sidewalk design
work on some streets in the northern part of Ward 2.) I asked that if such a study were to be done, it also include the 300 block of Lincoln Avenue in Ward 3. It appears that we have agreement on making that extension of the study. However, things are
up in the air in terms of whether we should budget for such a traffic study in FY26. With two other traffic studies already in the queue (in New Hampshire Gardens and on lower Flower Avenue, a Lincoln Avenue study would be unlikely to get underway until near
the very end of FY26. In the interests of keeping about $50,000 out of the FY26, I am comfortable with getting a general agreement among colleagues that a Lincoln Avenue traffic study would be funded in FY27 and get going right away.
Lincoln Avenue residents especially, and Ward residents in general, please let me know if you¡¯re comfortable with my thinking on this.
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Still to be discussed on Wednesday night
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- Question: whether to move unspent funding of $150,000 for the
Community Connectors program into FY26. These funds, originally to be covered by ARPA money, would go toward the first year of a two-year contract with a local non-profit (to be determined) that would work to help Takoma Park residents get better connected
to available social services and other forms of assistance. I hand-voted against this item along with Councilmember Landman (Ward 1). I would like to see the extent to which the recently opened non-profit social services center in Ward 6 is reaching the
same population targeted in the Community Connectors program proposal.
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- Question: whether to move $85,000 in funds for any
rent stabilization study (¡°housing ordinance review¡±) to unassigned reserves pending a Council discussion of the objectives of such a study.
I support this based on my priority of protecting residents from displacement.
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- Question; whether to cut funding for the Manager¡¯s proposed
Financial Review study ($50,000) on the grounds that such evaluation can be done in-house.
I proposed this based on my priority of living within our means.
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- Question: whether to reduce the
contribution to the Equipment Replacement Reserve by $222,000 with an eye toward hoped-for operational changes, extended vehicle lifetimes, or leasing arrangements that could reduce vehicle costs.
I proposed this, have received more information and perspectives from staff and colleagues, and am still considering it as a responsible move in a tight year and given our imperative of reducing greenhouse gas emissions rapidly over the next few years.
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- I had proposed that the Manager find one additional full-time-equivalent (FTE) vacancy to freeze hiring on, but all vacancies are in active search processes;
last night, the Manager generously agreed to search for additional small cuts in many cost areas that could sum to the equivalent of a full-time salaried position. We will find out that amount and vote on such changes tomorrow evening.
I will most likely support what additional savings the Manager can identify on the principles of living within our means and of transparency and accountability.
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Focus: The ¡°Atrium¡± Renovation project
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- The biggest unresolved budget reconciliation issue is the ¡°Atrium Project¡± - which is shorthand for the
long-planned renovations to portions of the Community Center, mainly related to the Police Department, that would involve decking over the main floor opening in the Atrium, at a currently estimated cost of $1.685 million.
We will have three possible reconciliation items, all of which I¡¯ve proposed, to vote on tomorrow night related to this project:
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Reducing the project budget by $285,000, which is the additional amount requested last month by the Manager as a reconciliation item to account for construction management fees, architectural fees,
and contingencies.
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Reducing the project by an additional $200,000, which is the amount not covered by original ARPA funds or a grant of $200k received with the help of Congressman Raskin.
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Moving all of the money for this project into General Fund unassigned reserves pending a review to see whether all of the essential objectives can be met more affordably.
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I made a presentation last night to make the case that the Atrium project, especially since $285,000 was recently added, appears to be too expensive.
I calculate that the cost of the new functional area gained by the project is about $985 per square foot, far above typical estimates for the cost-per-square-foot of commercial or office building renovations. In my view, there¡¯s a strong possibility
that if the decking-over of the atrium is eliminated and underutilized spaces on the third floor are incorporated into the project, and if existing restrooms can be upgraded in place rather than relocated, all of the important needs identified by staff and
advocated for by union members can be met. Please see the attached PDF of my short presentation. In my view, even if my colleagues want to see this whole project go forward as designed, it is still wise to place a pause on any expenditures to allow
time for Council oversight. Specifically, I think that the Council needs to find out, on behalf of the residents as well as staff, how this project came to a place where the cost per square foot of new functional space is so high.?
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The FY26 budget that is coming into focus will have unassigned reserves well in excess of the required 17% (two months¡¯ worth) of operating funds. I wrote
incorrectly a few weeks ago that Manager DiSpirito had reduced the excess unassigned reserves; in fact, he
subdivided the excess unassigned reserves to show how they are keeping pots of money safe for various possibilities including a drop in income tax receipts, unexpectedly low revenue from the new red light cameras, and clawbacks or other unforeseen losses
of intergovernmental funds.?
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In response to a question I asked,
Manager DiSpirito pledged last week that if circumstances go better than worst-case scenarios, and the unassigned reserves remain plentiful as FY26 proceeds, he will ¡°not spend a penny¡± of those reserves on other, new expenditures. I am really happy
to hear this since it opens up the possibility of convincing the Council to return some carried-over excess funds to property taxpayers in the form of a reduced FY27 property tax rate.?
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Overall, I feel that while there have been persistent differences of opinion around some budget issues, there has been
lots of consensus and goodwill among our seven-member team. Once we get through the bulk of the process, I¡¯ll offer an overall reflection.?
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Other short updates
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1. This weekend is Takoma Park¡¯s
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The main event is on Saturday, April 26 from 10 am to 2 pm near the playground located at Sligo Creek and the bottom of Houston and Kennebec Avenues. There are also opportunities for stargazing at the Montgomery College Planetarium. If you pass along
other information about events, and I¡¯ll amplify it.
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2.
Purple Line work-related closures ended at the New Hampshire Avenue/ University Boulevard intersection last week ahead of schedule; normal traffic flow has been restored.
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3. I attended the
Interjurisdictional Public Safety Summit last week hosted by our Police Department. My
three major takeaways from the evening: (1) thefts from vehicles and porches, as well as car thefts, are often being perpetrated by juveniles, who are not at high risk for arrest or prosecution and who are also adept at moving back and forth between
jurisdictions. As a result, (2) everything that communities can do to help young people find enjoyable, constructive activities is helpful, as is taking common-sense precautions to discourage thefts. (3) There is still room for improvement in the coordination
and collaboration among neighboring police jurisdictions.
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4. In mentioning the passing of Jackie Frazier last week, I spoke of her influential role in the
Lunch and Learn Program based at Essex House. My apologies for an error I made: former Councilmember
Jarrett Smith (Ward 5) was the founder of that program.
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5. Please find attached PDFs of flyers about:
City
Housing Resources
City
Food Resources
City
Emergency Shelter Resources.
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6. The
Takoma Park Community Band will have a free concert at the Community Center on Saturday, May 3 at 3 pm. (See attached flyer.)
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7.
Adult Play Day (age 21+) will be coming up on June 8, 5:30 - 7:30 pm at Busboys and Poets. (See attached flyer.)
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8. Adriana Elefante, Vincent Verweij, Randy Gibson, and I had a really nice 3-hour walkabout to take stock of the
woods and waters of Ward 3 (plus nearby Forest Park and Opal Daniels Park). We are going to try to develop some nice opportunities and invitations for people to experience these special places according to their own schedules, speed, and stamina. More
to come.
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9. City Manager DiSpirito is in receipt of concerns expressed by WACO residents about
parking enforcement and related issues on Westmoreland Avenue. He is investigating what actions have been taken by staff and will respond with information that I¡¯ll then share with the WACO listserv.
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10. I¡¯m working to set up a meeting with the District DOT community engagement specialist so that I advocate strongly for a four-way stop sign at Walnut and Eastern.
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11. I know that the backups and congestion at the
Fire Station signal, uncertainty around parking and deliveries at the City-owned lot, and noise/vibration from the
Co-op¡¯s new condenser unit are ongoing matters of concern, Please know that I¡¯m working on these issues and hope to have more time to double down on them as the budget season moves past its peak.
12. If you've read all the way to here, I'm amazed. Here's a fun idea: if you've had a recent
Ward 3 wildlife sighting and a photo to share, please send it my way, and I'll include it in an upcoming update.
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I hope you¡¯re enjoying the spring green and surviving the pollen!
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Best regards,
Roger
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John Cornwell
Charlotte Schoeneman