Mission Statement

The mission of the Department of Finance is to prudently manage financial operations, recommend and implement sound fiscal policies, safeguard public assets, and encourage a safe environment on public property.

Budget Overview

The total approved FY19 Operating Budget for the Department of Finance is $83,942,265, an increase of $2,540,552 or 3.12 percent from the FY18 Approved Budget of $81,401,713. Personnel Costs comprise 19.96 percent of the budget for 132 full-time position(s) and no part-time position(s), and a total of 126.77 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 80.04 percent of the FY19 budget.

The total FY19 Operating Budget for the Self-Insurance Fund component of Finance (Risk Management) is $69,444,248, an increase of $2,488,631 or 3.72 percent over the FY18 approved budget of $66,955,617. Personnel Costs comprise approximately 6.68 percent of the Self-Insurance Fund budget for 11 full-time positions. A total of 31.87 FTEs includes these positions as well as any seasonal, temporary, and positions charged to or from other departments or funds. Operating Expenses account for the remaining 93.32 percent of the budget. Included in the total FTEs are 20.50 FTEs charged to the Self-Insurance Fund by the Office of the County Attorney and 0.37 FTE charged by the General Fund component of Finance (Controller Division) for services provided in support of Risk Management.

Linkage to County Result Areas

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

• A Responsive, Accountable County Government
• Strong and Vibrant Economy

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 FY18 estimates reflect funding based on the FY18 approved budget. The FY19 and FY20 figures are performance targets based on the FY19 approved budget and funding for comparable service levels in FY20.

Accomplishments

• Retained the County's AAA bond rating from all three major credit rating agencies in the Fall of 2017. In March of 2017, Fitch upgraded the Water Quality Protection Charge Revenue Bond Series 2012A and 2016 to AAA from AA and the West Germantown Refunding Bond Series 2014 to AAA from A+.

• Received the GFOA Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the FY16 CAFR.

• The County's Commercial Property-Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) Program completed its first project in December 2016, within the first year of the program's operation-a $1.4 million project that was the first of its kind in Montgomery County and the State of Maryland. The Program has completed 2 additional projects to date with a combined project cost of $1.1 million, and 8 more project applications have been approved totaling $5.2 million and are expected to be complete by the end of FY18. The program was awarded a National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Award in FY17.

• Finance staff is working with the State Board of Elections, to implement the County's Public Election Fund. This Fund provides matching County funds to eligible candidates running for an elected office of County Executive or County Councilmember. The Fund
  is intended to incentivize greater participation of small money donors to eligible candidates through the Public Campaign Financing initiative. As of February 28, 2018, the Program has 33 active candidates who have filed an intent to participate, with fifteen of
  those candidates qualifying to receive matching funds worth $1,837,779.

• Implemented Bill 42-16 Property Tax Credit for Elderly Individuals and Military Retirees: When the bill was being introduced, it was estimated that Finance would receive about 3,500 applications. Treasury has received 5,737 applications by the September 1, 2017 deadline and issued 4,718 credits for a total of $3,199,448.

• Implemented the Income Tax Offset Credit module in the Tax Assessment System that removes the $692 credit to non-eligible properties. As of March 1, 2018, 5,727 accounts have been removed, saving the County nearly $4.0 million.

• Performed a security assessment of all operations in the County that accept credit cards payments to ensure that each organization is operating in a Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) compliant manner.

• The County's "Small Business Plus!" program, now in its fifth year, generated $128 million in new small business loans, 285 new jobs, and $249,000 in interest income in 2016 as a result of the County depositing up to $50 million with participating local banks. Since the program's inception in 2012, a total of 1,354 new jobs have been created and $608,000 in interest income has been generated.

• The average daily investment portfolio in FY17 increased to $845 million from $730 million in FY16. More importantly, investment income jumped from $2.8 million in FY16 to over $6.0 million in FY17, with an average portfolio yield of 0.71% in FY17 (compared to 0.39% in FY16). This 0.71% average yield also compares favorably versus the benchmark yield of 0.59% (S&P Local Government Index) or the average 3 month US Treasury yield of 0.56%.

• Successfully issued $340 million in GO Bonds in FY17 with an interest rate (True Interest Cost) of 3.281% and issued an equivalent amount of Commercial Paper.

Initiatives

• Finance's Treasury division is working with IT staff on multiple initiatives including re-engineering procedures for tax refunds, testing and implementing new Munis modules for web display of property tax bills, and implementing a new property tax payment platform.

• Upgrading Kronos Workforce TimeKeeper (MCTIME) from 6.2 to 8.2.
• Upgrading the Tyler Technologies Munis property tax billing system from 9.4 to 11.3.
• Replacing the custom in-house real and personal property tax web billing applications with Citizens Self Service from Tyler Technologies.
• Risk Management is working on the launch of additional safety-related electronic applications for Montgomery County Self Insurance Program (MCSIP) agency members, refining the Contract Tracking System to automate functions and reports, and working with the State to develop studies designed to result in guidelines for vocational rehabilitation in order to ensure efficacy of approved vocational rehabilitation programs for injured workers.

• The department manages the following growth and economic development initiatives, funded by the Economic Development Fund. They include:

  • The MOVE program that continues to reduce commercial office vacancy, attracting new businesses and jobs by assisting businesses in leasing office space to support their growth,
  • The Montgomery County Small Business Assistance Program (SBAP) and the Impact Assistance Fund (IAF) that provides financial and/or technical assistance to certain financially healthy small businesses in designated areas of the County adversely impacted by a redevelopment project initiated by the County, and
  • Grants and tax credits to assist businesses to establish headquarters and expand in the county, as well as funding to assist in the relocation of a major Fortune 500 company to downtown Bethesda.

Innovations and Productivity Improvements

• Migrate MUNIS, one of the County's property tax billing systems, to a Cloud platform.
  

• Use of Robotic Processing Automation software to perform repetitive and manually intensive jobs on software platforms that do not allow automation. This reduces staffing costs and increases accuracy.
  

• MCPay - The Department of Finance will be implementing credit card and electronic payment solutions and re-engineering existing solutions that will decrease the total cost of ownership for the County. This will entail creating a centralized payment portal, process automation, reducing the level of effort for on-boarding departments that wish to process credit cards, and collaborating with the Merchant Service Provider to reduce transaction costs.

Program Descriptions

  Fiscal Management

This program provides effective management of County capital and operating funds and the fiscal analysis and issue management associated with master plan development, economic development, and legislative issues. It is also responsible for accurate revenue and economic forecasting and publishing reports on economic and revenue analysis on a monthly and...

  Information Technology

This program provides planning, direction, and support for finance and core business systems, technology, and business processes to support effective and efficient achievement of the Department's mission. Activities are proactively coordinated with the Department of Technology Services, other County departments, vendors, and Department staff to ensure consistency of Department systems...

  Accounts Payable

This program is responsible for timely and accurate payments to vendors for goods and services provided to the County; complying with County policies and procedures; and carrying out State and Federal reporting requirements. Payments to vendors are initiated and approved by individual departments. The Accounts Payable program is...

  Accounts Receivable

This program is responsible for the timely receipt and accounting for monies due to the County from residents, businesses, and government agencies. In conjunction with the implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and associated best practices, this program provides for development of standardized policies and procedures, and provision...

  General Accounting

This program is responsible for the analysis, interpretation, and presentation of the County's financial position and results of operations through timely, accurate, and professional financial reports. These reports provide public assurance as to the accountability and integrity of the use of County resources; adherence to budgetary policies established by...

  Grants Accounting

This program is responsible for the analysis, interpretation, and presentation of the County's financial position relating to grants through timely, accurate, and professional financial reports. These reports provide public assurance as to the accountability and integrity of the use of Federal, State, and other outside resources; adherence to budgetary policies...

  Payroll

This program is responsible for managing and maintaining the County's payroll system and functions as prescribed by Federal, State, and County laws, and local regulations. The program provides timely and accurate payroll disbursements to County employees, accounts for payroll deductions, issues W-2 statements to account for pre-tax and post-tax benefits,...

  Tax Operations

This program is responsible for the timely and accurate collection and processing of all County administered taxes, including property taxes (which are the County's largest revenue source), transfer and recordation taxes (relating to real property transfers and recordation of instruments of writing), and several excise taxes (fuel/energy, telephone, hotel/motel, carryout...

  Treasury Operations

This program is responsible for providing coordination and oversight of treasury operations and customer services through the cashiering function. All money received by the County, directly through the Treasury cashiering operation, from other County agencies, or through the internet and bank lockbox operation, is processed, administered, and recorded in...

  Insurance

The Montgomery County Self-Insurance Program, established under County Code 20-37, provides comprehensive property and casualty insurance for the County and participating agencies. The program is funded through contributions from the agencies, which are based upon an annual actuarial analysis of their exposures and outstanding and projected future claims. The program...

  Occupational Safety and Health

This program operates a proactive safety program and coordinates reporting to Federal and State regulatory agencies on health and safety issues. The State-required injury reports and the mandated safety training and record keeping are completed by the Safety Section of Risk Management on schedule. The program responds promptly to inspections...

  Legal Services

This program funds activities of the Office of the County Attorney, which provides legal services including investigation, negotiation, and litigation on behalf of the County and agencies that participate in the Self-Insurance Program....

  Operations and Administration

This program includes operational support for the Department as well as the administrative portions of the Director's Office, the Division of the Controller, the Treasury Division, and the Division of Risk Management. The program provides support for efficient, effective, and timely accomplishment of the Department's mission, including budget development...