Montgomery County Maryland Operating Budget

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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 FY21 Recommended Operating Budget for the Office of the County Attorney is $6,587,300, an increase of $245,331 or 3.87 percent from the FY20 Approved Budget of $6,341,969. Personnel Costs comprise 87.15 percent of the budget for 77 full-time position(s) and one part-time position(s), and a total of 41.70 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 12.85 percent of the FY21 budget.

In February 2020, the County Executive announced ongoing efforts to identify no cost/low-cost reorganization efforts that will strengthen the delivery of priority outcomes, realign resources with policy objectives, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of County government. As part of this plan, the Office of County Attorney proposes to consolidate its programs/divisions into three areas: Administration, General Counsel, and Litigation.

County Priority Outcomes

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

Effective, Sustainable Government

Program 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 FY20 estimates reflect funding based on the FY20 approved budget. The FY21 and FY22 figures are performance targets based on the FY21 recommended budget and funding for comparable service levels in FY22.

Initiatives

Successfully defended a legal challenge to County's pesticide law (established under Bill 52-14) in Complete Lawn Care v. Montgomery County. The law restricts the application of certain pesticides for cosmetic purposes on County and private property and is codified in Chapter 33B of the County Code.
Successfully defended a legal challenge to the Amendment to the Westbard Master Plan in Bennett v. Montgomery County, where several residents of the Westbard area filed a lawsuit challenging an amendment to the Westbard Sector Plan. The amendment modernized the Master Plan and allowed for the redevelopment of the aging Westwood Shopping Center. The redevelopment includes affordable housing and is projected to yield economic development benefits, including additional tax revenues, for the County as a whole.

Innovations and Productivity Improvements

Prosecuted over 6,200 code citations in FY19, an increase of 76 percent over the number of citations prosecuted in FY17, using existing staff resources.
In coordination with the Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA), County Attorney implemented an online electronic citations application (eCitation) for code enforcement. This application standardizes and improves the process of issuance of citations. The eCitation program allows inspectors of user departments to easily look up violation codes, search specific citation ticket, and run ad hoc report and export data from the portal. OCA has completed training for the Health and Human Services and Police Animal Services Division inspectors. Additional training will be expanded to other departments and agenccies.

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

Administration

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

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 FY18	Actual FY19	Estimated FY20	Target FY21	Target FY22
Debt collection ($000)	$17,889	$11,693	$14,799	$14,799	$14,799

Litigation

Litigation...

Program Performance Measures	Actual FY18	Actual FY19	Estimated FY20	Target FY21	Target FY22
Total number of settlements	19	26	24	24	24
Number of workers' compensation hearings ¹	2,055	1880	1945	1945	1945
Code Citations processed	4,933	6,253	4,912	4,912	4,912
Ratio amount paid by County vs. amount demanded by the plaintiff	0.014	0.000	0.071	0.071	0.071
Total paid to plaintiff by the County ($000)	$91.8	$0	$61.9	$61.9	$61.9
Self-insurance fund litigation: Win/loss ratio	86%	100%	94%	94%	94%
Code enforcement collected ($000)	$578	$656	$595	$595	$595
Number of judgments in County's favor	44	30	39	39	39
Number of judgments paid	7	0	3	3	3
Last settlement amount demanded by plaintiff ($000)	$658,906	83,184	262,985	262,985	262,985
Worker's compensation cases: Total net gain to the County ($000)	2,584	2,960	2575	2,947	2,947
Code enforcement - Win/loss ratio	99.2%	99.38%	99.08%	99.08%	99.08%

General Counsel

General Counsel...

Program Performance Measures	Actual FY18	Actual FY19	Estimated FY20	Target FY21	Target FY22
Appeals lost	2	1	1	1	1
Appeals won	13	24	17	17	17
Forfeitures collected ($000)	$286.00	$384.68	$296.14	$296.14	$296.14
Number of adoptions granted	19	34	22	22	22
Number of children in need of assistance (CINA) or guardianship hearings	2,618	2,465	2,613	2,613	2,613
Number of new CINA petitions filed	193	183	182	182	182
Number of new termination of parental rights (TPR) petitions filed ¹	22	25	31	31	31
Number of termination of parents rights (TPR's) granted ²	32	19	30	30	30
Debt collection - cost/revenue ratio ³	2.7%	4.1%	3.3%	3.3%	3.3%
Percent of appeals in the Appellate Court won	87.00%	96.00%	93.00%	93%	93%
Child welfare litigation - ratio of termination of parental rights (TPR) and child in need of assistance (CINA) adjudicated granted or denied	99.5%	99.5%	99.5%	99.5%	99.5%
Debt collection - collected/total referred ratio	191.0%	139.5%	173%	173%	173%

Administration

NEW440-Administration...

Program Performance Measures	Actual FY18	Actual FY19	Estimated FY20	Target FY21	Target FY22
Overall average rating from Internal Customer Satisfaction Survey	3.39	3.38	3.39	3.39	3.39

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2021 RECOMMENDED Budget

Archives

Data

Budget Snapshot

6.6M FY21 Recommended
Operating Budget

41.7 Full Time
Equivalents

Budget Trends

Program Contacts

Contact Carolyn Kilgariff of the Office of the County Attorney at 240.777.6766 or Naeem Mia of the Office of Management and Budget at 240.777.2786 for more information regarding this department's operating budget.

Related Links

Montgomery County MD Home Page

Budget Summary

Title	Actual FY19	Budget FY20	Estimate FY20	Recommended FY21	%Chg Bud/Rec
COUNTY GENERAL FUND
EXPENDITURES
Salaries and Wages	4942515.00	4281032.00	4149314.00	4500306.00	5.1
Employee Benefits	1544093.00	1348655.00	1313219.00	1240609.00	-8.0
County General Fund Personnel Costs	6486608.00	5629687.00	5462533.00	5740915.00	2.0
Operating Expenses	504498.00	712282.00	728695.00	846385.00	18.8
Capital Outlay	100.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.0
County General Fund Expenditures	6991206.00	6341969.00	6191228.00	6587300.00	3.9
PERSONNEL
Full-Time	76.00	76.00	76.00	77.00	1.3
Part-Time	2.00	2.00	2.00	1.00	-50.0
FTEs	43.50	43.20	43.20	41.70	-3.5
REVENUES
Federal Financial Participation Reimbursements	284621.00	250000.00	250000.00	250000.00	0.0
Miscellaneous Revenues	74.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.0
Other Charges/Fees	-337.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.0
Other Intergovernmental	93853.00	45630.00	45630.00	45630.00	0.0
County General Fund Revenues	378211.00	295630.00	295630.00	295630.00	0.0

FY21 Recommended Changes

Title	Expenditures	FTEs
COUNTY GENERAL FUND
Other Adjustments (with no service impacts)
Shift: Deputy Privacy Officer from Health and Human Services (HHS) [General Counsel]	133484	1.00
Increase Cost: FY21 Compensation Adjustment	118215	0.00
Increase Cost: Outside Counsel Expenses [General Counsel]	110000	0.00
Decrease Cost: Annualization of Mid-Year FY20 Position Actions [General Counsel]	-7116	-1.50
Re-align: Personnel Charges to Other Funds/Departments [General Counsel]	-78108	0.25
FY21 RECOMMENDED	276475	-0.25

Program Summary

Program Name	FY20 APPR Expenditures	FY20 APPR FTEs	FY21 REC Expenditures	FY21 REC FTEs
Administration	0	0.00	2393590	12.95
Administration	1628792	7.50	0	0.00
Finance and Procurement	1177493	11.50	0	0.00
General Counsel	0	0.00	4193710	28.75
Goverment Operations and Appeals	468402	2.75	0	0.00
Health and Human Services	1199584	7.10	0	0.00
Human Resources	1139986	7.50	0	0.00
Insurance Defense Litigation	133171	1.25	0	0.00
Litigation	0	0.00	0	0.00
Support Services	414243	4.70	0	0.00
Zoning, Land Use and Economic Development	180298	0.90	0	0.00
Total	6341969	43.20	6587300	41.70

Charges to Other Departments

Charged Department	Charged Fund	FY20 Total$	FY20 FTES	FY21 Total$	FY21 FTES
COUNTY GENERAL FUND
Board of Appeals	General Fund	72871	0.50	76335	0.50
Intergovernmental Relations	General Fund	28637	0.30	29015	0.30
Finance	General Fund	172276	1.05	180262	1.05
Finance	Risk Management (Self Insurance - ISF)	3111743	20.50	3102886	21.00
Human Resources	Employee Health Self Insurance	18475	0.10	18931	0.10
Correction and Rehabilitation	General Fund	133894	1.00	159607	1.00
Police	General Fund	71933	0.50	178216	1.00
Parking District Services	Bethesda Parking	24084	0.10	22832	0.10
Parking District Services	Silver Spring Parking	28812	0.20	30410	0.20
Health and Human Services	General Fund	0	0.00	52757	0.50
Health and Human Services	Grant Fund	194294	2.40	194294	2.40
Permitting Services	Permitting Services	222744	1.00	211260	1.00
Housing and Community Affairs	General Fund	92093	0.50	93653	0.50
Housing and Community Affairs	Montgomery Housing Initiative	181040	1.00	186430	1.00
Recycling and Resource Management	Solid Waste Disposal	138565	0.75	141985	0.75
Recycling and Resource Management	Solid Waste Collection	46188	0.25	47328	0.25
CIP	Capital Fund	463658	2.80	483202	2.80
NDA - Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans	General Fund	18475	0.10	18931	0.10
NDA - Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans	Employees Retirement Savings Plan (RSP)	18475	0.10	18931	0.10
NDA - Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans	Retirement Fund (ERS)	77597	0.42	79512	0.42
NDA - Retiree Health Benefits Trust	Retiree Health Benefits Trust Fund	31408	0.17	32183	0.17
NDA - Retiree Health Benefits Trust	RSP-Disability Benefits (LTD2)	11085	0.06	11359	0.06
Cable Television Communications Plan	Cable TV	120420	0.50	114160	0.50
Total		5278767	34.30	5484479	35.80

Funding Parameter Items ($000s)

Title	FY21	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26
COUNTY GENERAL FUND
EXPENDITURES
FY21 Recommended	6587.000000	6587.000000	6587.000000	6587.000000	6587.000000	6587.000000
No inflation or compensation change is included in outyear projections.
Elimination of One-Time Items Recommended in FY21	0.000000	-10.000000	-10.000000	-10.000000	-10.000000	-10.000000
Items recommended for one-time funding in FY21, including operating expenses for the Deputy Privacy Officer position added in FY21, will be eliminated from the base in the outyears.
Labor Contracts	0.000000	63.000000	63.000000	63.000000	63.000000	63.000000
These figures represent the estimated annualized cost of general wage adjustments, service increments, and other negotiated items.
Subtotal Expenditures	6587.000000	6640.000000	6640.000000	6640.000000	6640.000000	6640.000000