Note that there will be no City Council meeting this week on Wed. the 22nd because the Auditorium heat is under repair, and because the Council is meeting on Sat. the 25th for a Retreat.
On Wed Jan 15th the City Council held a work session to reexamine the City Council’s 2023-2025 priorities. (View the meeting here.) The priorities are grouped under major goal headings of belonging, fiscal sustainability, the environment, government engagement & responsiveness, and housing/community development. While generally reconfirming these goals, we also moved towards highlighting the Council budget priorities identified last month (housing, safer streets, and progress toward a new Recreation Center) and to reduce the number of specific objectives: some objectives were achieved (like hiring a new City Manager) and others (like implementing COVID responses) are no longer as relevant. We adjusted the emphasis more towards affordable housing and street safety (especially pedestrian safety), and supporting the most vulnerable.
The Council members had a healthy give-and-take. We heard from the CM that we should shorten the detailed ‘laundry list’ of explicit objectives to give him latitude in achieving the goals. [Note: I think it’s also important to have specific metrics to achieve, and indeed we did discuss what our individual 2-year benchmarks would be.]
Revised goals and objectives are now being drafted based on our conversation; they will be further discussed at our next Council meeting. The final product will guide the CM in drafting a FY 2026 budget. (The City Manager intends to bring forward a draft FY26 budget based on a flat (unchanged) property tax rate of 55.22 cents per $100 assessed value; for comparison, no other Montgomery County municipality has a rate over 30 cents per $100.)
[Note: On behalf of many interested residents, I raised (again) the desire to create a mechanism for residents to have meaningful input into the budget process; this idea met with some pushback, and I am still exploring the best method for crafting something that can meet with Council approval.]
Other business: We also heard from several residents during public comments in support of more ping pong tables and recreation center times for senior ping pong, and we had a report from Annapolis on the state legislative session now getting under way. (We agreed later in the week to submit City testimony in support of the RENEW Act, which would raise revenues from major oil and coal producing companies through a compensation demand relating to their share of emissions, the money from which would fund climate change-driven costs for adaptation and mitigation.)
Now here’s some News You Can Use:
Time Sensitive: Property tax reassessments were issued December 30 by the State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT). Appeals of property assessments must be made within 45 days from the December 30 issuance. Information is available here.
Time Sensitive: Montgomery County Recreation summer camp registration begins at 6:30AM on Tuesday, January 21st for County residents. Non-county residents will be able to register beginning Thursday, January 23rd. Visit the Active MONTGOMERY website to register.
Theft of catalytic converters (especially from Priuses) is up! Etching and painting catalytic converters is a valuable FREE service offered by Takoma Park in partnership with RS Automotive and can deter these thefts. Call RS Automotive directly at 301-270-4418 to make an appointment. More info here: https://takomaparkmd.gov/government/police/services-and-programs/catalytic-converter-etching-program/
Seniors who need home repairs: You may be entitled to free home repairs! You must be (or become) a member of the Village of Takoma Park ($25 membership fee, but fee waivers are available), be at least 50 years old, and be a Takoma Park resident. The cost of materials will be covered up to $1,500 per household and labor is free. Call 301-646-2109 to contact the Village for more info.
The City will launch a new website on January 22nd. We are moving to a platform called CivicEngage, which should help to streamline getting information and requesting services. Please Contact Ryan Kelly, Acting Communications Manager, at ryank@takomaparkmd.gov, with any questions.For North Takomans: Montgomery College invites you to sign up to receive their MC Alert messages about safety, traffic etc. that could affect the neighborhood. More info and sign-up: https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/offices/public-safety-health-emergency-management/emergency-management/mc-alert.html