MARYLAND, January 15 - The County Council will hold virtual public hearings to receive testimony on new items introduced to the Council as follows:

Jan. 18, 2022 at 1:30 p.m. Deadline to sign up to speak is Jan. 17 at 5 p.m.

• Special Appropriation to the FY22 Operating Budget, Montgomery County Government, Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, $586,500 for the National Capital Area Law Enforcement Information Sharing Program (Source of Funds: Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
• Resolution Supporting the Establishment of an Additional Early Voting Center in Montgomery County at the Bauer Drive Community Recreation Center.

Jan. 25, 2022 at 1:30 p.m. Deadline to sign up to speak is Jan. 24 at 5 p.m.

• The Council will receive testimony on guidelines for the next operating budget. The Council must adopt guidelines for the next operating budget by the second Tuesday in February. The spending affordability guidelines that must be adopted are: a ceiling on the funding from ad valorem real property tax revenues, a ceiling on the aggregate operating budget, and separate budget allocations for all agencies and certain non-agency uses.
• Supplemental Appropriation to the County Government’s FY22 Operating Budget, $954,266 for Incubator Programs Non-Departmental Account (NDA) (Source of funds: General Fund Reserves)

A full list of upcoming public hearings is available at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/council/calendar.html.

Additional documents are available at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/council.

NOTE: During the Covid-19 state of emergency, the public is not able to be physically present in the Council Hearing Room. Residents who would like to call in to testify at a Council public hearing need to preregister on the Council's web page at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/council/calendar.html. Once the public hearing sign up request form is submitted and the public hearing list is created, individuals will receive separate confirmation notifications that include the appropriate link to use or phone number to call for the public hearing.

Community members also have the option to provide audio, video and written testimony to the Council using a recently developed online testimony form on the Council's web page which can be found at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/PHSignUp.html. The testimony provided with the online option carries the same weight as testimony given at a public hearing. Councilmembers consider all comments as part of their deliberations.

Comments and suggestions are welcome online at http://tinyurl.com/zrbwh5v; via email at county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov; by sending regular mail to County Council, 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville, MD 20850. For information or to express an opinion call 240-777-7900.

The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM) on Xfinity channels 6 and 996, RCN channels 6 and 1056; and FiOS channel 30. Also available live via streaming through the Council website at http://tinyurl.com/z9982v8, Facebook Live (@MontgomeryCountyMdCouncil or @ConcejodelCondadodeMontgomery), or YouTube (@MoCoCouncilMD).

The Council meeting schedule may change from time to time. The current Council and Committee agendas, Council staff reports and additional information on items scheduled for Council review can be viewed at: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/ondemand/index.html.

The Council and committees are meeting via Zoom because of ongoing construction and technology upgrades in the Council's Hearing Room and the inability to conduct meetings in a socially distant way in other areas of the Council Office Building with television broadcast capacity. Councilmembers continue to hold meetings in their offices by appointment.