On May 18 the Greenbelt City Council held a worksession for a final review of the FY 2027 budget. The budget was presented by City Manager Josué Salmerón and retired City Treasurer Bertha Gaymon, who is providing interim support. Salmerón noted that former treasurer Ron Covington is no longer working for the city. The vote on the budget will take place on Tuesday, May 26.
Salmerón presented five potential changes to expenditures in the budget presented on March 23 that would increase expenditures by $199,746 and would be drawn from reserves. These changes were increases in health and prescription coverage costs ($92,615), an increase to the Board of Elections to inform voters about ranked choice voting (RCV) ($6,500) and three items totaling $100,632 for the Greenbelt Cinema. These three items were $15,632 to cover utilities and related operating costs, $60,000 for their Cinema Business Stabilization and Development Plan and a $25,000 increase in the subsidy to Greenbelt Cinema to help cover inflation and operating cost pressures.
Greenbelt Cinema Executive Director Caitlin McGrath said that the Cinema would not be requesting funds unless it was absolutely necessary and that she would not want to repeat this ask. Fourth-grade residents McKenna Lynch and Emmeline Bedford-Dillow also spoke in support of the Cinema, offering their appreciation for showings of the Great Pumpkin on Halloween, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas after the tree-lighting and movies on snow days.
Salmerón also proposed eight changes that would not have a monetary effect on the budget: (1) eliminate the existing environmental coordinator position and create a new operations manager position, (2) eliminate an existing human resources (HR) generalist position and create two part-time positions, (3) fund the CARES nursing program for a year, (4) reclassify the CARES geriatric case manager to a senior case management supervisor, (5) reclassify police records specialist II from grade 8 to 9, (6) reclassify HR generalist II from grade 11 to 12, (7) eliminate the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) officer role and create an employee engagement specialist position in HR and (8) reclassify a grants coordinator to grants administrator.
Residents Bill Orleans, Michael Hartman and Bob Rand each spoke about their disappointment about eliminating the DEI officer role. Rand described it as a “retreat” on DEI issues in the city. Mayor Emmett Jordan and Salmerón countered that the change was not a retreat as it was not a change in policy and that there are investments in DEI throughout the budget.
Councilmember Jenni Pompi presented her proposal for funding the CARES Nursing Program. Due to American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, CARES was able to expand its reach to seniors and non-English speakers. But as ARPA funds have expired, CARES needs funding for a year to cover the gap until they can form a 501(c)3 to fund these programs in the future. Pompi proposed giving $132,000 to CARES to fund (1) a part-time community health coordinator, (2) a part-time community case manager and (3) a bilingual community health caseworker. This would be funded by removing the Greenbelt East recycling center ($50,000), delaying the hiring of the new Employee Engagement specialist (formerly DEI) position ($58,500) and reducing professional services and special programs ($23,500). Councilmembers expressed concern about budgeting in a delay for hiring the new DEI position.
A worksession was scheduled for June 1 to further discuss the DEI reorganization