The Greenbelt City Council wrapped up its months-long budget review by unanimously adopting the fiscal year FY 2027 (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027) budget at its May 26 regular meeting. The final budget calls for total General Fund revenues of $41,983,895 versus $41,976,993 in expenditures. Since neither the proposed nor final budget called for a tax increase, the budget was only balanced by using $2 million in reserves. In addition, one position was funded for half a year to reduce costs, raising a question of how the position will be funded next year. As is its practice, council suspended its rules, allowing the measure to be introduced and adopted at the same meeting.
After council unanimously approved the budget, Mayor Emmett Jordan said he had serious concerns about the financial path ahead. Using reserves from prior years is not a long-term substitute for recurring revenue. In addition, the budget does not address the future financial impact of expanded collective bargaining. City Manager Josué Salmerón noted that council had set a goal to review tax rates in FY 2027.
Sidenote
Just after the budget was adopted, Jordan moved to extend the meeting by 30 minutes, as required by council’s new standing rules. Councilmember Jenni Pompi voted against the extension after pointing out that the proclamations portion of the agenda took 30 minutes. If council is going to make a serious effort to keep its meetings within two hours, she said, “we need to work to increase the brevity of our comments.”
Main Issues
First, council had to approve the changes from the proposed budget based upon the final budget worksession (see story in May 28 issue). Many of the changes reflected increases in the cost of health insurance and prescription drug coverage along with a $27,000 increase in the prescription subsidy for retirees.
Cinema
The Greenbelt Cinema was the recipient of two of the changes. Under Public Works, council increased the Roosevelt iCenter budget by $15,632 to take over the Cinema’s utility bills. The cinema had requested increasing its operating subsidy by $25,000 along with a one-time contribution of $60,000 for development of an operational plan.
Councilmember Danielle McKinney moved to keep the cinema subsidy at $75,000 instead of the requested $100,000. She hoped that the operational plan would allow them to operate within this subsidy but called for revisiting the subsidy a few months after the plan’s completion. Her motion passed 5 to 2 with Councilmembers Frankie Santos Fritz and Pompi opposed. Several councilmembers reiterated their support for the theater while noting that the budget increases city support by more than $75,000.
Other Changes
Funding for the city clerk and Board of Elections was increased by $6,500 to support preparations for implementing ranked choice voting for the 2027 city election.
The CARES budget was increased by $134,395 for salary and benefits for the nursing program staff.
The Greenbelt East Recycling Center will be closed, reducing costs by $50,000. The funds saved will be used to support the CARES nursing program. Council also reduced its own budget by roughly $23,520 with cuts to its legislative services and special programs accounts to support the CARES program.
The budget for the Reparations Commission was increased by $1,500 to $6,500. The funding for Greenbelt Access Television was increased to $12,000 (from $3,300 in FY 2026) to partially offset a reduction in revenue from cable television Public, Educational and Governmental fees.
Allocated “Nonmonetary”
Council then turned to the “nonmonetary changes.” These are changes to city positions, the cost of which is reflected in the expenditure lines for each department. The changes include the funding of the CARES Nursing Program and several other changes covered in last week’s article. The new position of Public Works operations manager will not be filled until January to reduce costs.
The most controversial of these changes was the elimination of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Officer. Salmerón had proposed to move these responsibilities to the Human Resources Department, which council approved, with Councilmembers Fritz and Silke Pope opposed. However, at the final worksession, council agreed to keep the funding in the budget pending further review of the city’s DEI efforts, which began with a June 1 worksession.