2021 Budget Confirmed
Amid The New Virtual World, County Leaders Establish FY2021 Budget Focusing On Education And Stability
$4.48 Billion Adopted For Next Fiscal Year
By Raoul Dennis
The natural thing to do when a storm hits is to hunker down.
County leaders have taken that common sense to heart in crafting and confirming the budget for the next fiscal year which begins July 1.
The county has adopted a county budget of $4.48 billion for FY21.
Click here to see and obtain the full budget – and the earlier versions of it prior to COVID-19.
Confirmed May 29, FY2021 budget targets education and covers other staple areas but the county executive and the council focused on stability in the face of the effects of COVID-19 on quality of life and growth. Leaders believe the county will lose come $134 million in revenue as a result of losses due to COVID.
“Pursuant to State of Emergency declarations by the state of Maryland and Prince George’s County, and the Council adoption of Emergency Operation Resolution CR-10-2020, the Council has revised the County’s Fiscal Year 2021 Operating and Capital Budget calendar to meet our Charter obligation to pass a balanced budget by June 1.”
The County Executive and Council began the change in direction once COVID-19 hit.
“This Council after receiving the proposed fiscal year 2021 budget from County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and her team March 11 began its budget review process before we expected to ultimately adopt a spending plan that offered a strong statement on our County's economic growth that we are all did and our community priorities in education Public Safety Health Care Quality of Life Economic and transit-oriented Development infrastructure and the environment as well as other crucial initiatives that we started last year under this new Administration and accounts. Less than a week later with the arrival of COVID-19 in Maryland and the county and state states of emergency Prince George's County has been hard-hit and life as we know it has just drastically changed over these last several months,” Turner said in his closing remarks just after the council adopted the final version last week. Click here to read the council leader’s full remarks.
The veteran councilmember said that although the remainder of this year is covered fiscally, there’s uncertainty about the months between December and June 2021. Turner also noted that there is no clear certainty as to how the coming months will go as the virus still unchecked.
“It's going to be a challenge for the county,” he says of the coming year.
“The good thing is things that with the CARES act funding a lot of things we need in response to COVID-19, we can cover those,” he says of those funds which must be spent in direct response to the pandemic between now and December 31, 2020.
“The question then becomes what happens to the second half of the 2021 budget year – January to June -- and we still have these same kinds of budget needs that we’re seeing now? So we are still looking for additional assistance from our federal and state partners to get us through that period.”
See Todd Turner’s Remarks regarding council approach toward 2021 and specific spending directions. Click here.
