Advocacy

County Council Hearing Dates of Interest

2017-06-29T14:16:41-04:00January 16th, 2017|Advocacy, Events|

  • GO: 1/19, 9:30am, Office of Procurement, OLO Report 2017-3, Mapping the Montgomery County Procurement Process, Taxation – Property Tax Credit – Elderly Individuals and Veterans
  • PHED/HHS/PS: 1/19, 2:00pm, Youth workforce development
  • PS: 1/23, 9:30am, Animal Services Division, Update from Sheriff
  • HHS/ED: 1/26, 2:00pm, Briefing – New York City’s move to Universal Pre-K
  • GO: 1/30, 10:30am, Spending Affordability Guidelines for the FY18 Capital Budget and other general CIP assumptions, Credit to Offset Certain Income Tax Revenues – Amendments
  • GO: 2/9, 9:30am, Spending Affordability Guidelines for FY18 Operating Budget, Bill 31-16, Taxation – Urban Agricultural Tax Credit

Advocacy Opportunities

2019-01-07T15:21:38-05:00January 11th, 2017|Action Alerts, Advocacy|

From time to time we alert you to advocacy efforts that may affect your nonprofit and the people you serve. As an alliance of nonprofits that represents a broad sector of interests and needs, we will not take a stand on legislation and advocacy efforts without support of our board and members. However, we encourage all of our members to decide for themselves if this is something they would support.

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County Executive Budget Forums—Don’t Miss Out

2017-06-29T14:16:42-04:00January 6th, 2017|Advocacy, Events|

Nonprofit leaders and staff, board members, and volunteers are strongly encouraged to attend these public forums on the county’s operating budget to share insight into community needs, and to hear the County Executive’s priorities about the Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) Operating Budget.

January 9, 7pm, Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center
January 11, 7pm, Eastern Montgomery Regional Services Center
January 18,7pm, Mid-County Community Recreation Center
January 25, 7pm, Silver Spring Civic Building
January 30, 7pm, BlackRock Center for the Arts

The County Executive will announce his Recommended FY18 Operating Budget on March 15 and will approve it by the end of May.

County Budget Savings Plan – Our Nonprofit Convening

2017-12-22T11:02:05-05:00January 2nd, 2017|Advocacy|

At the end of November, County Executive Leggett sent a memo to the County Council announcing that a FY18 budget savings plan would need to be implemented with 2% cuts. That plan is due to be delivered to the Council before the end of the month.
Nonprofit Montgomery will be monitoring the plan, and working to inform Councilmembers of the nonprofit sector’s concerns related to it. We look forward to working side-by-side with the Council to implement savings while protecting the most vulnerable residents of Montgomery County.

To help Nonprofit Montgomery gather input from nonprofits, please join us on Wednesday, January 10 from 2-4pm for a Nonprofit Convening about the Savings Plan.  

This packet from the Council’s December 12 session includes County Executive’s Leggett’s memo on page 32 of the supporting materials. This also contains valuable information about budget pressures that will not only impact FY18 and a savings plan, but future budget years as well.

Link:
Montgomery County Must Revise Current Budget Due to Unexpected Revenue Shortfall (Bethesda Magazine, December 4, 2017)

Join us on January 10, 2018.

County Council Hearing Dates of Interest

2017-06-29T14:16:42-04:00December 26th, 2016|Advocacy, Nonprofit Resources|

  • GO: 1/19, 9:30am, Office of Procurement, OLO Report 2017-3, Mapping the Montgomery County Procurement Process, Taxation – Property Tax Credit – Elderly Individuals and Veterans
  • PHED/HHS/PS: 1/19, 2:00pm, Youth workforce development
  • PS: 1/23, 9:30am, Animal Services Division, Update from Sheriff
  • HHS/ED: 1/26, 2:00pm, Briefing – New York City’s move to Universal Pre-K
  • GO: 1/30, 10:30am, Spending Affordability Guidelines for the FY18 Capital Budget and other general CIP assumptions, Credit to Offset Certain Income Tax Revenues – Amendments
  • GO: 2/9, 9:30am, Spending Affordability Guidelines for FY18 Operating Budget, Bill 31-16, Taxation – Urban Agricultural Tax Credit

Advocacy Updates

2017-06-29T14:16:44-04:00December 11th, 2016|Advocacy|

Minimum Wage Council Session Updates
Your Input Needed Now
On Wednesday, December 7, the Council HHS Committee held a worksession on Bill 12-16, which proposes to increase the minimum wage in the county to $15 by 2020. Councilmembers in attendance included the members of the Health & Human Services Committee: George Leventhal, Roger Berliner, and Craig Rice, as well as Nancy Navarro, Sidney Katz, Tom Hucker, Nancy Floreen, and Marc Elrich.

The active discussion included discussion of the potential impact on nonprofits. See pages 17 and 26-27in the packet. You can watch the hearing on the Council website. Bethesda Beat summarized the meeting here.

While Nonprofit Montgomery shared our survey results with the Council, those results reflected the views of only 22 of our 130 members. In order to ensure that nonprofits can continue to be funded appropriately to maintain current service levels, Councilmembers need to be aware of the potential cost impacts.

We will continue to gather data from you and share it with them as they continue deliberation prior to a vote in early 2017. Because there is limited time to share this information, please respond to the surveyby December 15 if you haven’t already, and also contact Councilmembers directly. 

With five co-sponsors, the bill already has majority support on the Council. From the initial survey, the majority of the 22 Nonprofit Montgomery members who responded support the legislation, or support it if mitigation for nonprofits is included. As deliberation on Bill 12-16 proceeds, Nonprofit Montgomery will continue to encourage the Council to pay attention to the impact of the legislation on nonprofit organizations’ bottom lines, and to consider avenues for mitigation.
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County Council Hearing Dates of Interest

2017-06-29T14:17:49-04:00December 7th, 2016|Advocacy, Nonprofit Resources|

HHS: Human Rights and Civil Liberties – County Minimum Wage – Amount – Annual Adjustment (12/7, 9:30am)

HHS/GO: County government event sponsorship  (12/12, 9:30am)

GO: Taxation – Property Tax Credit – Elderly Individuals and Veterans (12/12, 11am)

Recently, the County Council launched a revision to its website to allow users to access Council agendas and committee meetings in one place. The site also provides access to informational packets, links to live meetings, and archived videos of past meetings. Users can click Council Meeting Portal to get to the right place.

Nonprofit Montgomery’s Minimum Wage Survey Results

2019-01-07T15:21:43-05:00December 6th, 2016|Advocacy|

The Council Bill 12-16 (to increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2020) is still under consideration with a Council HHS Committee worksession taking place on December 7 at 9:30am. We will share the results of this survey with Council staff as they complete their research. Please attend tomorrow’s worksession if you are interested in this issue.

Nonprofit Montgomery has not taken a stand on the minimum wage increase.  At Council public hearings in the spring we shared broad sector perspectives voiced by our advocacy committee, members and similar advocacy groups across the country.  These include funding challenges related to wage increases, especially for especially for organizations reliant on county, state and federal funding.

Nonprofit Montgomery put out a survey about the impact that a minimum wage increase to $15 by 2020 might have on local organizations. Some highlights:

  • Six of the 22 respondents indicated they would experience increased personnel costs directly attributable to the minimum wage increase
  • Seven organizations described potential service disruptions if funding doesn’t increase to help address wage increases.
  • When asked if a minimum wage increase would improve clients’ lives, responses were divided. Reasons for choosing no or unknown: It may lift clients out of poverty but may remove their eligibility for services and possible service disruptions.
Click here to see more results. There’s still time to join Nonprofit Montgomery’s Advocacy committee and play a part in developing and delivering our advocacy agenda. The monthly conference call is on the second Wednesday of each month at 3pm. Join the call to make your voice heard as we advocate for nonprofit organizations and the residents we serve.

County Executive Budget Forums—Dates Announced

2017-06-29T14:17:50-04:00December 5th, 2016|Advocacy, Events|

Nonprofit leaders and staff, board members, and volunteers are strongly encouraged to attend these public forums on the county’s operating budget to share insight into community needs, and to hear the County Executive’s priorities about the Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) Operating Budget.

January 9, 7pm, Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center
January 11,7pm, Eastern Montgomery Regional Services Center
January 18,7pm, Mid-County Community Recreation Center
January 25, 7pm, Silver Spring Civic Building
January 30, 7pm, BlackRock Center for the Arts

The County Executive will announce his Recommended FY18 Operating Budget on March 15 and will approve it by the end of May.

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