Prince George’s Budget Proposal Directs New Revenues Strategically

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The Prince George’s County General Fund for FY 18 is $114 million or 3.6% above the FY 17 budget level.

The Fiscal Year 2018 Proposed Budget for Prince George’s County benefits from the increase in property tax collections, income taxes and a full year of MGM National Harbor-related revenues.

As described in the Proposed Prince George’s County Budget-in-Brief, the County Executive would direct new revenues towards strategic goals in education, economic development, public safety, housing, and family services.

The Proposed FY 2018 Budget for all funds is $3.84 billion, an increase of $130.7 million or 3.5% over the FY 2017 Budget. Highlights of the FY 2018 Proposed Budget include:

  • The proposed budget includes $1.96 billion in funding for the Board of Education. This reflects an increase of $39.1 million or 2.0% over the FY 2017. The proposed budget supports the System’s strategic focus areas in addition to targeting funding for wrap around services to increase graduation rates and decrease dropout rates at four challenged high schools – Bladensburg, Central, High Point and Northwestern.
  • Continuing to grow our economy by expanding our commercial tax base and creating and retaining jobs remains a focus in FY 2018. Supporting the ongoing effort are the budgets of the Economic Development Incentive (EDI) Fund and the County’s economic development agencies. The Economic Development Corporation and FSC First will use $9 million from the EDI fund, along with other available financial incentives, to retain and attract businesses to Prince George’s County. These efforts will be supported by the additional funding provided to the Conference and Visitors Bureau to enhance our branding and marketing efforts.
  • Protecting our residential market’s recovery and expanding the stock of workforce housing opportunities will be a priority in FY 2018. The FY 2018 budget includes new investments including $5.1 million to support the County’s Housing Investment Trust Fund. The fund will support workforce housing and down payment and closing cost programs in the County.
  • Maintaining efforts to keep our growing communities safe by funding five new Police recruitment classes, or 200 new officers, which will offset attrition and grow the size of the force, and providing additional funds for overtime to support crime prevention initiatives. Furthermore, the budget includes 115 new sworn fire officers (three classes), 70 new sworn correctional officers (two classes) and 25 new sheriff deputies.
  • Supporting families and children by funding new health and human services initiatives, including the Child Protection Education Unit, Health Alliance Program, Disabilities Apprenticeship Training Program and the Options Counseling program. Funding will continue to support crisis intervention, employment training, afterschool programming and family economic stability services. Additionally, resources are provided to coordinate efforts to reduce the occurrence of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.

For more information, see the Prince George’s County Proposed Budget-in-Brief.