Jun 1

Jun 1 Proud of the 2024 Budget

My Priorities Have Always Been To Focus On Our Communities

By Jolene Ivey // Prince George’s County Council Member

Dear Neighbors,

Last Thursday, the Prince George’s County Council approved the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) County Budget of $5.4 Billion.

As you’ve heard, this year, projected revenues dropped by $60 million during our budget review, making it a more challenging year. However, I am proud of the hard work we did together as a Council to adopt the FY24 Budget.

My priorities have always been to focus on our communities. Whether it's housing, resources for young families, public safety, creating jobs, and more. That’s why I am satisfied with what we have been able to put into our budget this year. This is not to say that I don’t wish there were more we could have added. With the shortfall in funds and prioritizing the needs of our community, we did our best to ensure our agencies are funded so that they can improve their responsiveness to the community, bring programs and resources where needed, and focus on continuing to better the lives of each Prince Georgian.

Here are some of the highlights of the FY24 Budget that I am particularly proud of:

Safe Neighborhoods

Close to 100 firefighters will be recruited to alleviate significant overtime costs (Fire/EMS Department Budget $261M)
Providing wrap-around services from afterschool programming, mental health services, workforce development, and housing support through the Hope in Anti-Violence Action Initiative $1B
$2 million supports mobile mental health crisis response,

Environment/Beautification

Vision Zero Prince George’s will put $41 million to support outreach and various road safety improvements/projects in Prince George’s County
Increasing stormwater management fund by $16M to help combat climate change and mitigate flooding and stormwater management Capital improvement programs to fund $141.1M to flood protection projects.
Litter reduction/beautification programs to enhance street sweeping and litter removal services in the Department of Public Works & Transportation ($9.9M)

Economic Development & Affordable Housing

Resourcing ways to preserve and create affordable housing ($45.2M)
Expanding eligibility to the Emergency Rental Assistance Program ($14.5M)
Providing more opportunities for procurement & assistance programs for local, small, and minority-owned businesses ($17.8M)
Overall economic development agency funding ($10.8M)

Education & Youth Development

The FY24 Budget fully funds the Prince George’s County Public Schools request at $2.8 Billion, which represents 62 percent of the County Budget General Fund.

We have also increased funding for:

Sunday hours at the library
SNAP program match by $346,000
County veterans ($548,700)
Office of Human Rights for continued implementation of language access for public services ($3M)
Department of Permits, Inspections, and Enforcement funding for approximately 30 unfilled positions and 10 new positions to bolster code enforcement, inspections, and permitting.

While I haven't covered everything in the budget, this is a small glance into some of the highlights. Every day we work towards improving our county and I know that providing the financial resources to our different agencies is what will get us there.