On May 1, the Greenbelt City Council met with staff from the Department of Planning and Community Development for a worksession on their portion of the city manager’s proposed Fiscal Year 2020 city budget. The request includes $382,900 for Planning and $663,000 for Community Development, with a little more than $1 million anticipated from revenue sources in Community Development.
Traditionally, Greenbelt’s budget worksessions include not only a scrutinizing of the proposed budget itself but also a review of the past year’s achievements, as well as a forecast of work and any potential issues for the upcoming year. So far this year, despite a proposed tax increase, budget worksessions seem to be including little scrutiny of budgets. Tonight’s worksession was no exception, but the recounting of the amazing productivity of the department more than filled the given space.
Mayor Emmett Jordan opened the meeting with a reading aloud of the mission, value statements and goals of the Department of Planning and Community Development to demonstrate the extent, reach and responsibilities of what is in fact a relatively small city department.
“We ask a lot, and a lot gets accomplished,” Jordan said.
For more of this story, see the May 16 News Review.