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Dear Friends,
Last Thursday, the County Council approved the Fiscal
Year 2012 Budget. As I wrote in a previous enewsletter, this is
not an easy budget year. Over the last few years, we have had
to dramatically cut our budget back to FY2008 levels and at the same
time continue to provide even more service as foreclosures in the
community demand greater code enforcement, residents need greater
social services, and employees shoulder more work with fewer
people. Below I have outlined some highlights of the budget we
passed.
Board of Education
The County Council added $7.5 million to the Board of
Education Budget to restore funding for specialty program bus
service, Reading Recovery, HeadStart/PreK, and Camp Schmidt. Funds
to restore these programs were found by decreasing the Board of
Education funding in areas that do not directly impact children and
we also modestly tapped into reserves. The Board of
Education budget also outlines several schools that will receive new
or replacement playground sets next year, including Glenridge
Elementary School, University Park Elementary School, Beacon Heights
Elementary School, and Woodridge Elementary School. Finally,
the new Hyattsville area elementary school scheduled to open in 2014
adjacent to Nicolas Orem Middle School continues to stay on schedule
to relieve area overcrowding.
Park and Planning
Park and Planning will continue to move forward with
some of its projects, while others have been scaled back or
delayed. Over the next few years Park and Planning anticipates
the much needed renovation of Wells Linson Ice Rink and Swimming
Pool, construction of the Riverdale Park and Hyattsville Trolley
Trail, addition of new bike path spurs in College Park and Berwyn
Heights, and new dog parks. The Lincoln Vista Community Center
continues to proceed and the much needed expansion of Good Luck
Community Center will happen, but at a slower pace. We
continue to advocate for a Community Learning Center in the Landover
Hills Area and for connecting the WB&A Trail from Lanham to the
New Carrollton Metro Station and through Landover Hills to Cheverly
and Bladensburg Waterfront.
General Budget
In other areas of the budget where the Council made adjustments,
we included funding to add six inspectors to the Department of
Environmental Resources. This is important, since I feel we
must continue to increase code compliance to improve our
neighborhoods’ quality of life. We also restored funding to the
Health Department to compensate for reductions in state and federal
funding.
Another priority of mine was to restore funding for
Youth and Gang Violence prevention. While funding was slightly
reduced from last year, we were able to provide a little more than
$300,000 to nonprofits doing this important work in our
communities. Funds to renovate the heavily-used Hyattsville
Library have been included, and we restored funding for Fire
Department apparatus to bring that total up to $4.2 million. We
also increased funding modestly for repaving roads, among other
areas.
Lastly, I want to clarify an article and an editorial
that appeared in the Washington Post regarding the
budget. The County Council reduced its budget by 2 percent,
which was the amount that virtually all departments were asked to
reduce their budgets. While I had advocated for deeper cuts to
the Council budget, it remained at a 2 percent cut. In
addition, County Council and County Executive salaries are set by the
County Charter. Last year, I proposed legislation that would
have delayed elected officials’ cost of living increases and would
even have allowed for officials’ salaries to go down. That
legislation was not approved. Further, at that time, I had
argued that it was not appropriate for elected officials to see a
cost of living increase when our hard working employees had not seen
any for several years.
I hope this budget overview is helpful. If you
have further questions about the budget or other matters, please
contact my office.
Thank
you,
Eric
Olson
Council Member, District 3
(301) 952-3060
ITEMS
OF INTEREST
COUNCILMAN OLSON TOWN HALL MEETING
Please join me on June 20, 2011 for my Town Hall meeting
with special guest County Executive Rushern Baker, III. The
Town Hall meeting will be held at Parkdale High School (6001 Good
Luck Rd) from 6:30-9:00pm. County agencies will be available to
share information and answer questions starting at 6:30pm and
speakers will start at 7pm. Please join us.
POLICE
NON-EMERGENCY NUMBER CHANGE
Please be advised that the Police Non-Emergency Number
has changed. The new number is (301)
352-1200. The emergency number is still 911.
HERITAGE BIKE RIDE
The Anacostia Trails Heritage Area (ATHA), in
conjunction with several other county and bi-county agencies will
host a bike rally on Saturday, June 4th, National Trails
Day. This event will be held from 8:30am-12:30pm. There
are 4 levels of participation beginning with riders looping Lake
Artemisia for novice participants, to a 35 mile trail for
advanced riders. Registration fee includes breakfast, lunch and
a t-shirt. For more information please visit www.anacostiatrails.org.
RIVERSDALE HOUSE MUSEUM
The Riversdale House Museum is hosting several events in
June, including Garden Day on June 5th and Jazz on the
Lawn on June 16th. For more information please click
here or call (301)
864-0420.
2011 HOUSING FAIR
Hosted by the Department of Housing & Community
Development (DHCD), the Prince George’s Association of Realtors, and
the Gorgeous Prince George’s Homeownership Initiative, the 2011
Housing Fair will be held on June 11th at the Prince
George’s County Sports & Learning Complex (8001 Sheriff Road in
Landover) from 10:00am-3:00pm. This event will include seminars
on first time home buying, resale when moving up, foreclosure
prevention, short sales, and much more. Please visit www.pgcar.com to register or
for more information. If you require urgent foreclosure legal
consulting, you can contact the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland,
at 1-800-396-1274.
FAMILY FESTIVAL
The Prince George’s County Child Resource Center will
host its Family Festival on June 11, 2011 from 11:00am-3:00pm.
This event will be held at Fed EX Field in Landover.
Festivities include a video game truck, a climbing wall, arts &
crafts, live animal and much more. For more information please
call (301) 772-8420 or visit www.childresource.org.
SEED
Sowing Empowerment & Economic Development, Inc.
(SEED) is a non-profit agency dedicated to serving the economic and
educational needs of Prince George”s residents. SEED will host a
number of events this summer to empower residents in the areas of first
time home buying, foreclosure prevention, short sale purchasing, and
much more. Please look below for a short list of upcoming
programs. For more information please call (301)
458-9808. Fees may apply.
Department of Social Services Food Give Away, 4:00pm-6:00pm
June 20th, 6505 Belcrest Road in Hyattsville
June 21st, Gwynn Park High School Parking
Lot, 13800 Brandywine Road in Brandywine
Free Community Fest
Saturday, June 25th, Refreshing Springs
Church of God & Christ
10:00am-4:00pm
HUD Approved First Time Homebuyer Seminars
Saturday, June 25th 8:30am-4:30pm
Saturday, August 20th 8:30am-4:30pm
How to buy or sell a short sale property:
Please contact Willie Hall at (301) 458-9808 for dates
& information
MARYLAND MORTGAGE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
Provided by Department of Housing and Community
Development, the Maryland Mortgage Assistance program provides up to
$5000 in mortgage assistance for qualified homeowners. Please
call 1-800-756-0119 or click here for more
information.
 
Farmers Markets Open in College Park and Riverdale Park
The
College Park Farmers Market is now open on Saturdays and will
continue service until November 19, 2011 in the parking lot of the
Herbert Wells Ice Rink (5211 Paint Branch Parkway in College
Park). The farmers market operates from 7:00am-12:00noon.
Also, the Market is open on Sundays this Summer at a separate
location. Sunday Market will operate in the parking lot of the
College Park Municipal Building (4500 Knox Road in College Park) from
9:00am-2:00pm. For more information please visit College Park Farmers Market or contact Phil Miller at
(301) 399-5485.
The
Riverdale Park Farmers Market, located at the Riverdale MARC Station
on Queensbury Road, is open every Thursday until November 17th
from 3:00pm-7:00pm. Please visit their website for more
information at www.rpfarmersmarket.org or join their Facebook page.
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