Montgomery County Maryland Operating Budget

Budget Year / Version:

Mission Statement

The mission of the Office of the County Attorney is to act as the Chief Legal Officer of Montgomery County Government and to conduct all its legal business.

Budget Overview

The total recommended FY20 Operating Budget for the Office of the County Attorney is $6,377,401, an increase of $187,876 or 3.04 percent from the FY19 Approved Budget of $6,189,525. Personnel Costs comprise 88.83 percent of the budget for 76 full-time position(s) and two part-time position(s), and a total of 43.20 FTEs. Total FTEs may include seasonal or temporary positions and may also reflect workforce charged to or from other departments or funds. Operating Expenses account for the remaining 11.17 percent of the FY20 budget.

County Priority Outcomes

While this program area supports all eight of the County Result Areas, the following is emphasized:

Effective, Sustainable Government

Department Performance Measures

Performance measures for this department are included below (where applicable), with multi-program measures displayed at the front of this section and program-specific measures shown with the relevant program. The FY19 estimates reflect funding based on the FY19 approved budget. The FY20 and FY21 figures are performance targets based on the FY20 recommended budget and funding for comparable service levels in FY21.

Accomplishments

Argued before the U.S Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit defending a Federal District Court's grant of the County's motion to dismiss Pulte Home's claim for $168,000,000.
County prevailed in a seven-year long series of trials/hearings against a claim that the County violated the Rehabilitation Act/American with Disabilities Act in the U.S. District Court for Maryland. Argued the case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit defending the verdict rendered by the District Court in favor of the County.
Maryland Court of Special Appeals affirmed the Tax Court's denial of Lockheed Martin's $1.3 million refund claim for the hotel/motel tax paid by Lockheed Martin to the County.

Initiatives

Pursuing litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Pursuing litigation for violations of the Fair Housing Act against lenders for discriminatory practices that led to the housing market crash in 2008-2010.
Pursue litigation against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in connection with recently issued FCC orders regarding the construction of a 5G network.

Program Descriptions

Insurance Defense Litigation

Provides legal defense for cases involving Montgomery County and 14 local government Self-Insurance Fund participants (including the Montgomery County Board of Education, City of Rockville, Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Montgomery College, and the Housing Opportunities Commission) and all of their employees. The attorneys appear regularly before State and...

Program Performance Measures	Actual FY17	Actual FY18	Estimated FY19	Target FY20	Target FY21
Number of workers' compensation hearings ¹	1,901	2,055	1,984	1,984	1,984
Worker's compensation cases: Total net gain to the County ($000)	3,299	2,584	2,966	2,966	2,966
Last settlement amount demanded by plaintiff ($000)	$46,864	$658,906	$324,135	$324,135	$324,135
Total paid to plaintiff by the County ($000)	$94	$91.8	$110	$110	$110
Ratio amount paid by County vs. amount demanded by the plaintiff	0.20	0.014	0.08	0.08	0.08
Total number of settlements	27	19	26	26	26
Number of judgments paid	2	7	6	6	6
Number of judgments in County's favor	43	44	46	46	46
Self-insurance fund litigation: Win/loss ratio	96%	86%	89%	89%	89%
Code enforcement - Win/loss ratio	98.67%	99.2%	98.4%	98.4%	98.4%
Code enforcement collected ($000)	$553	$578	$482	$482	$482

Health and Human Services

The attorneys in this division act as counsel and give legal advice to the Department of Health and Human Services. The attorneys represent Child Welfare Services in the Juvenile Court, in cases involving child abuse and child neglect, and Aging and Disability Services in the Circuit Court, in adult guardianship...

Program Performance Measures	Actual FY17	Actual FY18	Estimated FY19	Target FY20	Target FY21
Number of children in need of assistance (CINA) or guardianship hearings	2,476	2,618	2,444	2,444	2,444
Number of adoptions granted	15	19	19	19	19
Number of CINA cases closed	168	182	175	175	175
Number of new adoption petitions filed	17	19	19	19	19
Number of new CINA petitions filed	170	193	178	178	178
Number of new termination of parental rights (TPR) petitions filed ¹	46	22	32	32	32
Number of termination of parents rights (TPR's) granted ²	38	32	29	29	29
Child welfare litigation - ratio of termination of parental rights (TPR) and child in need of assistance (CINA) adjudicated granted or denied	100%	99.5%	99.8%	99.8%	99.8%

Finance and Procurement

Acts as counsel and provides legal advice to the County Executive, County Council, and to several County departments, agencies, boards, and commissions. The Division represents the County Government in tax and procurement matters before State, Federal, and local administrative agencies and courts; drafts and reviews agreements, legislation, regulations, and other...

Program Performance Measures	Actual FY17	Actual FY18	Estimated FY19	Target FY20	Target FY21
Debt collection - collected/total referred ratio	189.0%	191.0%	164.0%	164.0%	164.0%
Debt collection - cost/revenue ratio ¹	3.1%	2.7%	3.2%	3.2%	3.2%
Debt collection ($000)	$14,814	$17,889	$15,545	$15,545	$15,545
Forfeitures collected ($000)	$217.73	$286.00	$295.00	$295.00	$295.00

Support Services

Provide administrative, research, and technical guidance and support to divisions within the Department. Allows for an equitable distribution of work assignments, to cross-train staff, and to evaluate fairly the performance of the staff. Provides administrative support to the Risk Management Fund, and revenue support to the Risk Management Fund, Revenue...

Human Resources

Attorneys act as counsel and give legal advice to the following agencies: Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, Ethics Commission, Board of Investment Trustees, Office of Human Resources, Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, Office of Public Information, Department of Transportation (Transit Services Division, Taxicab Unit), Human Rights Commission, Board of...

Zoning, Land Use and Economic Development

Represents and advises the County Executive, the County Council, and various County departments, including the Department of General Services, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and the Department of Public Libraries. Represents and advises agencies and commissions, including the Historic Preservation Commission, the Revenue Authority,...

Public Interest Representation

The Office of the County Attorney provides litigation and other legal services to County agencies and departments in support of their mission to promote general welfare and protect vulnerable citizens. The Office of the County Attorney acts as counsel and provides legal advice to the Police Department, the Department of...

Administration

Provides internal personnel, financial, and operational management for the Office of the County Attorney....

Program Performance Measures	Actual FY17	Actual FY18	Estimated FY19	Target FY20	Target FY21
Overall average rating from Internal Customer Satisfaction Survey	3.40	3.39	3.40	3.40	3.40

Goverment Operations and Appeals

Drafts and reviews County and State legislation; represents the County in legal challenges to its legislative acts; drafts and coordinates formal legal advice given by the Office of the County Attorney; provides legal assistance to the Office of Management and Budget, Ethics Commission, Office of the Inspector General, and the...

Program Performance Measures	Actual FY17	Actual FY18	Estimated FY19	Target FY20	Target FY21
Percent of appeals in the Appellate Court won	94.73%	87.00%	92.00%	92.00%	92.00%
Appeals lost	1	2	1	1	1
Appeals won	18	13	17	17	17

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2020 RECOMMENDED Budget

Archives

Data

Budget Snapshot

6.4M FY20 Recommended
Operating Budget

43.2 Full Time
Equivalents

Budget Trends

Program Contacts

Contact Carolyn Kilgariff of the Office of the County Attorney at 240.777.6766 or Philip Weeda of the Office of Management and Budget at 240.777.2780 for more information regarding this department's operating budget.

Related Links

Montgomery County MD Home Page

Budget Summary

Title	Actual FY18	Budget FY19	Estimate FY19	Recommended FY20	%Chg Bud/Rec
COUNTY GENERAL FUND
EXPENDITURES
Salaries and Wages	4525565.00	4201208.00	4703851.00	4313025.00	2.7
Employee Benefits	1449359.00	1319035.00	1453517.00	1352094.00	2.5
County General Fund Personnel Costs	5974924.00	5520243.00	6157368.00	5665119.00	2.6
Operating Expenses	781352.00	669282.00	703874.00	712282.00	6.4
County General Fund Expenditures	6756276.00	6189525.00	6861242.00	6377401.00	3.0
PERSONNEL
Full-Time	76.00	76.00	76.00	76.00	0.0
Part-Time	2.00	2.00	2.00	2.00	0.0
FTEs	44.75	43.50	43.50	43.20	-0.7
REVENUES
Federal Financial Participation Reimbursements	287358.00	250000.00	250000.00	250000.00	0.0
Other Charges/Fees	-693.00	75000.00	75000.00	0.00	-100.0
Other Intergovernmental	45691.00	45630.00	48230.00	45630.00	0.0
County General Fund Revenues	332356.00	370630.00	373230.00	295630.00	-20.2

FY20 Recommended Changes

Title	Expenditures	FTEs
COUNTY GENERAL FUND
FY19 ORIGINAL APPROPRIATION	6189525	43.50
Other Adjustments (with no service impacts)
Increase Cost: FY20 Compensation Adjustment	198472	0.00
Re-align: Adjust Budget for County Attorney to Address Structural Budget Deficiencies (reduce lapse)	150000	0.00
Increase Cost: Restore One-Time Lapse Increase	21467	0.00
Increase Cost: Westlaw Research and Library Subscription [Administration]	20000	0.00
Increase Cost: Cloud eDiscovery Application [Goverment Operations and Appeals]	20000	0.00
Increase Cost: Retirement Adjustment	9609	0.00
Increase Cost: ProLaw Case Management Licenses [Goverment Operations and Appeals]	3000	0.00
Technical Adj: Adjusted Charges to Other Departments	0	0.20
Shift: Net-Gross Charge County Attorney Position to Police [Human Resources]	-71833	-0.50
Decrease Cost: Annualization of FY19 Personnel Costs	-162839	0.00
FY20 RECOMMENDED	6377401	43.20

Program Summary

Program Name	FY19 APPR Expenditures	FY19 APPR FTEs	FY20 REC Expenditures	FY20 REC FTEs
Insurance Defense Litigation	91362	1.00	134040	1.25
Health and Human Services	1254681	7.10	1208036	7.10
Finance and Procurement	450435	4.00	1185191	11.50
Support Services	378296	4.70	416760	4.70
Human Resources	1067301	7.25	1147570	7.50
Zoning, Land Use and Economic Development	165614	2.70	181324	0.90
Public Interest Representation	635698	6.50	0	0.00
Administration	1664275	7.50	1633179	7.50
Goverment Operations and Appeals	481863	2.75	471301	2.75
Total	6189525	43.50	6377401	43.20

Charges to Other Departments

Charged Department	Charged Fund	FY19 Total$	FY19 FTES	FY20 Total$	FY20 FTES
COUNTY GENERAL FUND
Board of Appeals	General Fund	68344	0.50	73328	0.50
Intergovernmental Relations	General Fund	27653	0.30	28807	0.30
Finance	General Fund	144059	1.05	173345	1.05
Finance	Risk Management (Self Insurance - ISF)	2997116	20.50	3130073	20.50
Human Resources	Employee Health Self Insurance	18009	0.10	18588	0.10
Correction and Rehabilitation	General Fund	126412	1.00	134728	1.00
Police	General Fund	0	0.00	71933	0.50
Parking District Services	Bethesda Parking	23534	0.10	24200	0.10
Parking District Services	Silver Spring Parking	47068	0.20	28992	0.20
Health and Human Services	Grant Fund	194294	2.40	194294	2.40
Permitting Services	Permitting Services	217598	1.00	223810	1.00
Housing and Community Affairs	General Fund	87614	0.50	92655	0.50
Housing and Community Affairs	Montgomery Housing Initiative	175228	1.00	182143	1.00
Solid Waste Services	Solid Waste Disposal	135067	0.75	139411	0.75
Solid Waste Services	Solid Waste Collection	45022	0.25	46470	0.25
CIP	Capital Fund	465494	3.00	466548	2.80
NDA - Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans	General Fund	18009	0.10	18588	0.10
NDA - Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans	Employees Retirement Savings Plan (RSP)	18009	0.10	18588	0.10
NDA - Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans	Retirement Fund (ERS)	75638	0.42	78070	0.42
NDA - Retiree Health Benefits Trust	Retiree Health Benefits Trust Fund	30615	0.17	31600	0.17
NDA - Retiree Health Benefits Trust	RSP-Disability Benefits (LTD2)	10805	0.06	11153	0.06
Cable Television Communications Plan	Cable TV	117671	0.50	121001	0.50
Total		5043259	34.00	5308325	34.30

Future Fiscal Impacts ($000s)

Title	FY20	FY21	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
COUNTY GENERAL FUND
EXPENDITURES
FY20 Recommended	6377.000000	6377.000000	6377.000000	6377.000000	6377.000000	6377.000000
No inflation or compensation change is included in outyear projections.
Labor Contracts	0.000000	42.000000	42.000000	42.000000	42.000000	42.000000
These figures represent the estimated annualized cost of general wage adjustments, service increments, and other negotiated items.
Subtotal Expenditures	6377.000000	6419.000000	6419.000000	6419.000000	6419.000000	6419.000000