Shock, but not surprise.

Since not everyone follows me at Facebook.com/Emily.Strab.HVL I am posting my comments on the Hyattsville financial crisis, with dates. After years of asking for a balanced budget, bringing up errors, asking about what residents found digging through the numbers, and establishing the audit committee, then finding out the treasurer’s background before he was hired, what is clear is that we need to change the way we do things in Hyattsville. Hiring policies needs to change, financial policies need to be updated, and clear ethical guidelines need to be put in place for upper-level staff.

8/29/26

The city has released the FY24 Audit, including a brief FAQ. Given the size and implications of the FY23 restatement, residents may be thinking “how did we get here?” That question is something that council members, including myself, are working on and will be addressing in the September 14th council meeting and the upcoming audit committee meetings. The most important question is, however, “How do we make sure that this doesn’t happen again and that council, staff, and residents have the best information to make decisions?” As chair of the Staffing Workgroup and member of the Finance Workgroup on council, I will be working with others to restructure staff and policies that will safeguard our financial health and the accuracy of our financial reporting.

This is a process– and one that must take into account the short and long term stability of city operations. There is not one quick fix that will solve the problem. The material weaknesses and findings by this year’s auditor are not new issues, but the fact that they have been known and not addressed is an indicator that substantive organizational change is necessary to solve these issues.

Truth is a good thing, no matter how painful the realization. Feel the shock and even anger. But, moving forward, everyone with responsibility to city finances should have a renewed and reenergized feeling of responsibility to make how we do things better. I know I do. As someone who has pushed for accountability and transparency and struggled against moving the needle, I’ll take my share of that responsibility and fight for what the city of Hyattsville needs to be in a better financial position.

Comment 8/30- I know there is a lot of frustration out there and that residents are asking how council didn’t know. The answer is complex. I and other councilmembers took Route 1 finance’s warnings seriously, then they were explained away by management. Errors brought up in meetings were not acknowledged. The audit committee found several weaknesses, but as a committee did not propose a restatement. Council changed gears, trying to budget conservatively and get more information, but the pushback that we didn’t have to worry about drawing on the general fund was strong. We were asking the right questions, but never had the whole picture that this audit restatement provides. It is a clear call to a balanced budget and even stronger policies on drawing down the general fund and funding capital projects. The bottom line is that given our charter, the council has limited power to influence staff leadership. We all want a stable government that works well. Right now our focus needs to be the future and positioning ourselves to have strong leadership, especially in financial matters. Council is already working with staff to have a plan in place by the Sept 14 meeting. Please come to the meeting and make your views known.

8/31/26

If you have questions or concerns about the FY 2024 budget, you can submit a comment on the form at https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx…

Or speak at public comment on September 14th.

9/1/2026

As part of the city council finance workgroup, I met with our deputy budget director and deputy city administrator today. After that meeting, I am confident that we will have an even clearer picture and a clear plan forward for city finances that we can share at the September 14th meeting.

9/2/26

The city administrator has accepted the resignation of City Treasurer Brooks. The city will contract finance professionals until the search for a new treasurer is complete.

Comment: This is only the beginning in establishing a more accurate and transparent way of budgeting and balancing the books. Who we hire and council’s priorities going forward are going to set us on a path — a path that I will work hard to make sure sets us up for proper stewardship of residents’ tax dollars. I want to see my and other councilmembers’s (especially Ed Haba!) push for a balanced budget come to fruition. I want to see the safeguards against drawing down the general fund put into place. Over a year ago I submitted a draft of a drawdown policy that was stalled and never went before council. It took months to get support for the formation of the audit committee. It shouldn’t be hard to do the right thing.

Comment 9/4: balancing our operations budget is task# 1. Making practical cuts by letting residents know what service changes can be expected with those cuts means doing the work to create and communicate that information. There’s a real possibility of some sort of tax increase. Hyattsville has lagged behind other municipalities in the region for salaries for a long time and the only way we can keep up services and provide our staff with commensurate salaries is to raise our tax rate along the lines of other municipalities in the region that we want to be competitive with. We also need to put in place a debt policy that reflects the amount Hyattsville can afford to pay on a yearly basis in debt service. Until we can put aside money for capital projects, the city cannot take on any more as we’ve already taken on quite a bit of debt for the projects we’ve recently completed. There’s going to be some tough decisions and councilmembers will need feedback from informed residents.