Last night, Hyattsville city council voted to pass the amended tax credits for the Homestead and Homeowner’s Property Tax credits. I supported council member Ed Haba’s amendment to increase the Hyattsville credit to 30% of the state credit, up from the 15% it had previously been. For comparison, Greenbelt’s is 25% and Takoma Park’s is 50% of the state credit.

Last night, city staff presented projected revenues for FY 26. It is important to understand that the city has a fixed number of revenue sources. Most of our revenue comes from property taxes. The council wants to provide relief during these uncertain ecomonic times through keeping the tax rate stable and providing these credits, but that means we need to be sure of our revenues. One area we were able to make up revenues was adjusting the tax rate on utility providers, which had not been updated in over 15 years.

Council and staff are still working to cut expenditures to provide a balanced budget. We cannot approve a budget that projects drawing down a quarter of our reserve balance in the general fund. Given the current state of national affairs, it is likely that we would continue to do so for the next four years, thereby exhausting our savings. NOW is the time to get our spending in check, as we do not know when we will be in an economically stable place to add to the general fund.

As mentioned in the meeting, we are carrying $22.3mil in debt. Paying that debt will cost the city almost $2mil in operating expenses every year for the next 25 years unless we are able to either pay down some of the debt early with cash or renegotiate the interest rate on the debt by getting back our bond rating. Doing that will take getting caught up on our audits.

I’ve completed several interviews for members for the audit committee and have a few more to do before we make our final selection. It is encouraging to see so many talented residents willing to dedicate their time furthering the financial health and transparency of the city. Getting several stateholder’s eyes on the internal processes and controls will ensure the city is doing the best it can with residents’ hard-earned money.

When we look at some of the non-essential expenditures, we’ll take a look at ARPA legacy costs. While I would to continue providing mental health services to our families without insurance who have not been able to be served by the county, I am committed to funding the program through grants. There are also many positions that were funded through ARPA that council needs to consider discontinuing. As councilmember Schaible commented last night, since the council has paused instituting its own rent stabilization program, the council needs to assess the value of retaining that position and other programs begun by ARPA or by previous councils.

The city needs to evaluate its bandwidth to complete projects, prioritize services, and carefully evaluate every contract. While freezing merit and cost of living increases is evaluated, that is not an option I would consider viable for the economic health of our city. The hard work has just begun- but cannot come at the expense of the ability of our hardworking staff the ability to afford to make a living.