Have you ever wondered how offices such as CUPF prepare for a budget hearing? In this podcast, CUPF's Communications and Outreach Specialist, Derek Ross, will discuss with our Director, Ramona Bell-Pearson and Financial Administrator, Vanessa Lopez-Cuevas their roles in the budget hearing process and the preparation that goes into our presentation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ramona (00:13):
Welcome to Off the CUPF a Community Use of Public
Facilities podcast.
We are one of many countygovernment podcasts that focus
on sustainability and innovation, all while making sure our
community is aware of theservices the county provides.
Are you looking to reserve anoutdoor indoor facility at a
library, school or countybuilding?
How about the Silver SpringCivic Building at Veterans Plaza
(00:36):
or the Clarksburg Cottage inMontgomery County, Maryland?
Available venues are here to bereserved and we are the office
that can make it happen.
We are CUPF and thank you forjoining our community podcast.
Derek (00:50):
Welcome back, everybody.
Welcome back.
Once again, my name is Derek,Derek Ross.
And we are ready to get thispodcast started.
Hello, Ramona.
Ramona (00:58):
Hi, Derek
Derek (01:00):
You know we how we jump into it.
Well, let's jump into somehighs and lows.
Director.
Director Ramona Bell-Pearson.
You got any highs and lows?
Ramona (01:09):
I do.
I have a few But I'm justgoing to concentrate on one high
and one low.
Right now we're right in themiddle of budget season and a
lot of people know what thatmeans.
A lot of people don't.
But, I think most people canfigure it out, because we just
left tax season, or some of usare still in it if you got an
extension.
So, I will say my high is whenour budget, our department
budget, is approved, which won'tbe until the middle, towards
(01:32):
the end of next month.
My low is also budget relatedbecause during this process of
getting our budget reviewed bythe executive and then pushed
over to the council, I've had tolook very closely at the
numbers of our operatingexpenses, et cetera, and it's a
lot of money.
We are a business, we're anenterprise fund, so we, if we
(01:55):
don't raise it through our fees,we don't have the money.
We're not like a taxappropriated agency.
So looking at the quarterlyreports and the full year
reports, there's a lot of money.
But thank you to our community.
They continue to support us sothat we are able to make our
budget, and we're pushing againthis year.
(02:16):
We do need some additionalsupport, which I think we've
talked about in other podcastsrelated to our fee increase that
we're trying to get approved.
But that's my low.
Derek (02:28):
Wow, wow.
See, I like how you keep it soprofessional, so business
oriented.
I'm thinking over here about myhighs and lows.
I was like you know what.
You know, Montgomery Cou nty isa really strong county when it
comes to like running 5Ks.
There's so many groups andmentally I was ready to try to
run a race and get back into it.
Ramona (02:44):
Was?
Derek (02:46):
Physically, physically.
There's another question goingon.
Right now my right knee issaying you can do it if you want
, but I got a present for youlater on when you're done.
So I'm like you know, I'm justtrying to figure that out.
But that's from a personal,from a work aspect of it.
You know, low is, there's a lotthat I want to do from a comms,
if I don't tell people enough.
I'm working on thecommunications, the outreach.
So there's a lot to get donewhen it comes to outreach and
(03:07):
just networking with thecommunity, because it's very
important that we understandwhat the community wants, and we
just want to meet everybody ata good point, you know, a good
point in life.
Everybody's happy, we'resmiling.
Ramona (03:19):
I heard that yo u have an annual report coming that's
going to b e the bomb.
Derek (03:24):
We have so many eyes on it.
So much creative juice.
It's just so much flowing.
It's just good energy.
Ramona's on it, Vanessa'sdropping some good knowledge on
it too.
We have charts and graphs andnumbers.
You're going to love it.
I hope you do.
I hope you do.
But, Ramona, you know, lastpodcast we had Vanessa.
(03:44):
I don't know if people rememberwho Vanessa is, but you know
Vanessa comes with the numbers,the finance.
Vanessa, that was her firstpodcast.
If you notice, I'm talkingabout it as if Vanessa's not
here, and Vanessa's actuallyhere with us.
Well, well, well, Vanessa,Vanessa, Ramona, is there
anything else you would like tosay?
I know you introduced Vanessabefore.
Is there something new you wantto say about Vanessa?
Else, like you would like tosay, I know you introduced
(04:04):
vanessa before.
Is there something you foundout?
Ramona (04:05):
to say about vanessa something you found out.
Vanessa's just knee deep in thenumbers and she always makes us
look good in terms of many,making sure that we have what we
need and that we are being fairto our community.
So I think that that's enoughsaid.
Hello, Vanessa.
Vanessa (04:23):
Hello, I'm glad to be back and I'm grateful Wow.
Derek (04:29):
Wow, we just got straight to it.
So let's get into it.
Let's get into it, let's kindof go through this.
I know last episode, the lastpodcast we discussed, vanessa
was here too.
We were talking about thesimplified fee structure.
We were going into thebreakdown.
We call it like a series onebecause we're going to have a
couple more series.
Hopefully Vanessa is going tojoin us a little bit more,
sounds like it, I hope so.
You know, kind of put that inher lap a little bit Wink, wink.
(04:52):
Anyway, the whole point islet's get into it To all our
listeners.
Here's a question for you.
Did you know, or are youfamiliar with Montgomery County
government budget hearings?
And just in case you didn'tknow, that this episode is kind
of talking about preparation fora county budget hearing.
This is how we do it.
This is how CUPF does it.
Ramona, how do we do it?
Ramona (05:13):
I thought you knew, derek you know what, though you
didn't ask vanessa her highs andlows, I had to sweat through
that what?
Vanessa (05:22):
oh wow, I was like, I got through it.
I was like that's you know what, Ramona?
Derek (05:28):
thank you so much.
I well, vanessa said grateful.
I was like I guess that thatwas.
I think we good.
Now, vanessa, I I am so sorryabout taking your grateful and
just running with it.
Please tell us.
Vanessa (05:39):
I was okay with it.
Derek (05:40):
But since you mentioned it okay.
Thank you for moment.
Vanessa (05:42):
So my highs, I would say, it's that spring break is
over and my son is back inschool.
You know, I love my son but it'snice for there to be structure.
So I'm happy that spring breakis over and my lows is just the
year end.
We're approximating year end.
(06:03):
Our fiscal year end is.
June 30 is the last day of thebudget year, so between now and
June 30, it's going to be tight.
Our budget is very tight, butwe have some year end closeouts
that we have to do and it's it'snot not pleasing to see all
this money come out and I'm likeis this money coming back in,
you know?
So, yeah, that's that's myhighs and lows.
(06:25):
Thank you for making sure thatI put it in there.
Derek (06:30):
Yes, yes, anytime.
I'm so sorry, thank you forthat.
As soon as Ramona looked at me,I was like you know, I probably
forgot something Showing upthere.
It was there, it was.
Thank you, vanessa.
Thank you, vanessa.
I was so quick to get into itbecause I was thinking about
music and then putting down.
This is how we do it.
And then I looked at Ramona.
I was like wondering how do wedo it?
How does CUF get prepared for abudget hearing?
What do we do?
Ramona (07:06):
Well, it's a complicated process, but it's sort of like
making sausage you don't reallywant to see it, but you like the
sausage at the end.
Oh, okay, all right.
No, actually it's prettystandard.
Every department goes throughthis.
You are given the opportunityto meet with the Office of
Management and Budget during thefall season and that leads up
to December when you get to asolidified budget that goes to
(07:29):
the county executive.
The county executive hears therecommendations of OMB.
Those recommendations are madeafter meetings with the
department representatives andthen the executive makes his
decision as to what he willagree to.
That will become the finalbudget for the executive, which
will go over to county council.
That date is March 15th whenit's presented to the council
(07:52):
and it's the county executive'srecommended budget operating
budget to the county council.
So it's the county executive'srecommended budget operating
budget to the county council.
So it's for every department,it's not just CUPF, it's for
every department in the county.
And the council then begins tohave its review of the process.
Its review of the processincludes public hearings, it
includes committee work sessionsand those are followed by full
(08:14):
council session, and all of thistakes place between March and
May and then there is a decisionmade in a final vote, that is,
individual votes for eachdepartment, and those votes then
by the full council become thefinal operating budget for the
departments.
Now I will say there isthroughout the year and
(08:34):
sometimes it happens right afterthe budget's approved where
they go back and take anotherlook because they hear from the
state or the feds that they'renot going to get the money for
certain programs that theythought they were going to get.
So it becomes necessary to makechanges to the already approved
budget.
So there's still sometimes someyou know adjustments that go on
, but for the most part it's thefinal budget in May and then
(09:00):
the departments begin to adjustfor their coming fiscal year
that starts July 1st, so thatthey can use that budget
throughout the year.
Derek (09:04):
Wow, ok, ok.
So we got the breakdown Allright.
So we got the breakdown fromDirector Ramona Bell-Pearson
Just throwing that out thereagain.
So, Ramona, I know we had somequestions down, had like goals
during the hearing, who'sinvolved in the hearing and
community involvement support.
You've brought up a lot of thatalready and my question is kind
of getting to the wholediscussion is I wonder, what
(09:27):
does the director do?
How do directors get preparedfor hearings?
Because I've seen you on TV.
I would love to know from eachstandpoint, like, how do y'all
get prepared?
You got the finance team, yougot the director over here.
I just it boggles my mind whenI see y'all on TV, when I see
y'all on TV and I'm just like Iwonder how they got prepared for
that.
Ramona (09:48):
Well, I think it's a partnership.
Yeah, because we have meetingswith our OMB analyst, we have
meetings with the legislativestaff for the council.
We get questions from thecouncil that give us an
opportunity to understand whatthey're thinking, how we got to
(10:19):
the numbers we got to, or whywe're suggesting the programming
or services that we'resuggesting or operational needs
that we have, and then we'rekind of able to be a little
prepared or anticipate whatthey're going to talk to us
about because of those questionsand the answers to those
questions.
Vanessa (10:28):
Yeah, I do want to mention.
Yeah, you know, when we get thequestions from county council,
we definitely know where theirmind is.
And then also, since we aretrying to implement this fee
increase for FY26, this year'squestions were much more
involved, so we had maybe liketriple, the quadruple the
questions this year.
So we we had a nice timefiguring out those questions,
(10:52):
those responses, and we actuallyjust forwarded those responses
to the county council.
You know it has to be.
We give the questions to ourOMB analysts.
We meet with our OMB analystsas well, too, to make sure we're
all on the same page and thatwe are, you know, collaborating
in our responses.
And I think that, you know,after this is over I think it's
(11:13):
very it's like we'll relax for afew weeks before we start the
budget again for the next year,but I think that it's very
involved.
There's a lot of differentcomponents that goes into the
budget every single year.
Derek (11:29):
That is, and it's a lot of work.
Kudos to y'all.
I mean, if we don't say itenough, y'all are doing some
mighty strong work right there.
That's a lot of good work and Iwant to make sure that we
understand that as a communityand also as staff and coworkers,
and just being able to witnessawesomeness going on at the same
time.
I know Ramona was talking aboutthe goals during the hearing.
(11:53):
Who's involved and I know thequestions I kind of have with
you is your experiences leadingup to the budget hearing and
what is presented.
Is there anything specific thatyou can kind of elaborate on
about your experience from thefinance team aspect of it?
Vanessa (12:12):
You know, for our budget hearings a lot of times
we have to.
Well, the questions that aregiven to us by council are
incorporated into the packet anda lot of the questions are just
financially related.
They want to know the numbersin past years, they want to know
our trends, they want to knowwhere we see ourselves in the
future.
So what's interesting is thatafter the pandemic, prior to the
pandemic I'll start there.
(12:33):
Prior to the pandemic, we werevery healthy with our fund
balance.
We were earning, I think, overa million dollars every month.
But that was also.
We had a healthy enterprisefund.
But that was also redistributedto other projects for the
community.
We redid the floors at the EOBauditorium, the carpeting, we
(12:57):
bought furniture for the recfacilities.
We also another year we did theSilver Spring Civic building's
hardwood floors.
So we always took the money thatwe had in excess over the 10%
reserve and we were able toincorporate it back into the
different facilities the countyhas.
But now, after the pandemic,we've seen that we don't have
(13:19):
those resources anymore.
Our enterprise fund last yearin FY24 ended with 11% of our
resources.
So we still met the 10% mark.
But for the second quarter ofFY25, based on the projections,
we were at 2.4% of our mandatoryreserve, so we weren't not even
close to the 10%.
(13:39):
So that's something that was.
You know, it was plain to seewhen we started doing the
questions for the county councilthat the money that we've been
receiving is not enough to coverour expenses, so so that's
something that it was like in alot of the questions.
(13:59):
You could see that the moneywasn't back to pre-pandemic
levels and, you know, hopefullyI didn't give too much
information, but, yeah, that'ssomething that went into this
year's budget when we wereanswering questions.
Thank you.
Derek (14:10):
Vanessa.
No, no, you're fine, you cankeep going if you want.
We got about five hours.
No, we do not.
So, as we continue to finishthis up and talk about so many
things, especially in regards tothis, is how we do it in
regards to preparing for thecounty budget here.
I don't know why I'm saying itlike that.
I must have a song in my heador something like that.
But as we close it out, toconfirm from Ramona's, take on
(14:32):
it, we are working on our annualreport.
It will be printed, it will bein publication.
We will make sure it getsshared and put in facilities.
The goal is to make sure weincorporated a lot of the
information from reports fromvarious managers and everything
like that is being looked overplenty of times.
Best believe, you don't want meto just look at it.
My eyes will see what my eyesare going to see, but it's
always helpful to be able towork and collaborate with so
(14:54):
many different people in ourdepartment.
So many awesome people Onceagain shout out to the
publication team, shout out tofinance child care, core
services, silver Spring CivicBuilding.
There are so many differentgroups, so many managers, so
many people that are making thishappen.
So thank you, thank you.
Thank you, ramon, I know.
Last time we did a shout out tothe finance team.
Should we do a shout out again,or should we just shout out?
(15:15):
Do you have somebody else youwant to?
Not to take anything away fromthe finance team.
Ramona (15:20):
I don't know.
I'm thinking maybe the entirestaff, because everybody's been
dealing with the whole budgetissues and stressing about how
we're doing and making sure thatthe permits are up to standard
and making sure that thecommunity is able to get as much
access as possible, which, ofcourse, benefits us too, because
it gives us more permits, whichgives us more fees.
(15:41):
So I think the whole staffmaybe could get a kudos.
Derek (15:44):
Oh, whole staff, all staff.
What about you, vanessa, anyclose outs?
Did you want to give a shoutout?
Vanessa (15:52):
OK, I did want to say thank you to Ramona for her
support.
I know that she's very involvedin assisting and trying to get
our budget together.
So thank you to Ramona.
She always has great words tomake our responses even better.
Also, thank you to the financeteam.
They're very supportive andthey do a lot of work.
And also thank you, as Ramonamentioned, to the rest of our
(16:14):
staff too, because without themthere would be no budget.
And then also the customersCustomers you're the reason that
we're here, you're the reasonthat we're.
We still have jobs and we'restill employed, and you know we
do our best to to make sure thatour customers are happy and are
able to have all the resourcesthat they need and be able to
use the facilities, and try totry to make it as seamless as
(16:37):
possible for them to rent outour space.
So thank you to them as wellthank you, thank you so much.
Derek (16:41):
And if I didn't, I don't think we mentioned it.
Vanessa (16:43):
So our timeline oh, and thank you to derek.
I apologize.
Thank you to derek, to thecommunications team.
Derek (16:49):
Thank you, good point vanessa I like that just threw
me in, and I I appreciate it,though.
So, last thing, is there a date?
What is our date for our budgethearing?
April 30th, april 30th, I don'twant to forget.
Well, I could have just said it, but I was like you know what I
felt, like it's different whenthe director says it yes, april
30th.
So be on the lookout.
We're going to keep doing whatwe're doing for the community,
(17:19):
because this is what we're herefor.
But thank you again, everybody,and see you next time.
Announcer (17:24):
This podcast is brought to you by County Cable
Montgomery, your source for newsand information from the
Montgomery County government.
Connect with us via cable,facebook, instagram or YouTube
by searching for County CableNoCo.
Welcome to Off the CUPF a Community Use of Public
Facilities podcast.
We are one of many countygovernment podcasts that focus
on sustainability and innovation, all while making sure our
community is aware of theservices the county provides.
Are you looking to reserve anoutdoor indoor facility at a
library, school or countybuilding?
How about the Silver SpringCivic Building at Veterans Plaza
(00:36):
or the Clarksburg Cottage inMontgomery County, Maryland?
Available venues are here to bereserved and we are the office
that can make it happen.
We are CUPF and thank you forjoining our community podcast.
Derek (00:50):
Welcome back, everybody.
Welcome back.
Once again, my name is Derek,Derek Ross.
And we are ready to get thispodcast started.
Hello, Ramona.
Ramona (00:58):
Hi, Derek
Derek (01:00):
You know we how we jump into it.
Well, let's jump into somehighs and lows.
Director.
Director Ramona Bell-Pearson.
You got any highs and lows?
Ramona (01:09):
I do.
I have a few But I'm justgoing to concentrate on one high
and one low.
Right now we're right in themiddle of budget season and a
lot of people know what thatmeans.
A lot of people don't.
But, I think most people canfigure it out, because we just
left tax season, or some of usare still in it if you got an
extension.
So, I will say my high is whenour budget, our department
budget, is approved, which won'tbe until the middle, towards
(01:32):
the end of next month.
My low is also budget relatedbecause during this process of
getting our budget reviewed bythe executive and then pushed
over to the council, I've had tolook very closely at the
numbers of our operatingexpenses, et cetera, and it's a
lot of money.
We are a business, we're anenterprise fund, so we, if we
(01:55):
don't raise it through our fees,we don't have the money.
We're not like a taxappropriated agency.
So looking at the quarterlyreports and the full year
reports, there's a lot of money.
But thank you to our community.
They continue to support us sothat we are able to make our
budget, and we're pushing againthis year.
(02:16):
We do need some additionalsupport, which I think we've
talked about in other podcastsrelated to our fee increase that
we're trying to get approved.
But that's my low.
Derek (02:28):
Wow, wow.
See, I like how you keep it soprofessional, so business
oriented.
I'm thinking over here about myhighs and lows.
I was like you know what.
You know, Montgomery Cou nty isa really strong county when it
comes to like running 5Ks.
There's so many groups andmentally I was ready to try to
run a race and get back into it.
Ramona (02:44):
Was?
Derek (02:46):
Physically, physically.
There's another question goingon.
Right now my right knee issaying you can do it if you want
, but I got a present for youlater on when you're done.
So I'm like you know, I'm justtrying to figure that out.
But that's from a personal,from a work aspect of it.
You know, low is, there's a lotthat I want to do from a comms,
if I don't tell people enough.
I'm working on thecommunications, the outreach.
So there's a lot to get donewhen it comes to outreach and
(03:07):
just networking with thecommunity, because it's very
important that we understandwhat the community wants, and we
just want to meet everybody ata good point, you know, a good
point in life.
Everybody's happy, we'resmiling.
Ramona (03:19):
I heard that yo u have an annual report coming that's
going to b e the bomb.
Derek (03:24):
We have so many eyes on it.
So much creative juice.
It's just so much flowing.
It's just good energy.
Ramona's on it, Vanessa'sdropping some good knowledge on
it too.
We have charts and graphs andnumbers.
You're going to love it.
I hope you do.
I hope you do.
But, Ramona, you know, lastpodcast we had Vanessa.
(03:44):
I don't know if people rememberwho Vanessa is, but you know
Vanessa comes with the numbers,the finance.
Vanessa, that was her firstpodcast.
If you notice, I'm talkingabout it as if Vanessa's not
here, and Vanessa's actuallyhere with us.
Well, well, well, Vanessa,Vanessa, Ramona, is there
anything else you would like tosay?
I know you introduced Vanessabefore.
Is there something new you wantto say about Vanessa?
Else, like you would like tosay, I know you introduced
(04:04):
vanessa before.
Is there something you foundout?
Ramona (04:05):
to say about vanessa something you found out.
Vanessa's just knee deep in thenumbers and she always makes us
look good in terms of many,making sure that we have what we
need and that we are being fairto our community.
So I think that that's enoughsaid.
Hello, Vanessa.
Vanessa (04:23):
Hello, I'm glad to be back and I'm grateful Wow.
Derek (04:29):
Wow, we just got straight to it.
So let's get into it.
Let's get into it, let's kindof go through this.
I know last episode, the lastpodcast we discussed, vanessa
was here too.
We were talking about thesimplified fee structure.
We were going into thebreakdown.
We call it like a series onebecause we're going to have a
couple more series.
Hopefully Vanessa is going tojoin us a little bit more,
sounds like it, I hope so.
You know, kind of put that inher lap a little bit Wink, wink.
(04:52):
Anyway, the whole point islet's get into it To all our
listeners.
Here's a question for you.
Did you know, or are youfamiliar with Montgomery County
government budget hearings?
And just in case you didn'tknow, that this episode is kind
of talking about preparation fora county budget hearing.
This is how we do it.
This is how CUPF does it.
Ramona, how do we do it?
Ramona (05:13):
I thought you knew, derek you know what, though you
didn't ask vanessa her highs andlows, I had to sweat through
that what?
Vanessa (05:22):
oh wow, I was like, I got through it.
I was like that's you know what, Ramona?
Derek (05:28):
thank you so much.
I well, vanessa said grateful.
I was like I guess that thatwas.
I think we good.
Now, vanessa, I I am so sorryabout taking your grateful and
just running with it.
Please tell us.
Vanessa (05:39):
I was okay with it.
Derek (05:40):
But since you mentioned it okay.
Thank you for moment.
Vanessa (05:42):
So my highs, I would say, it's that spring break is
over and my son is back inschool.
You know, I love my son but it'snice for there to be structure.
So I'm happy that spring breakis over and my lows is just the
year end.
We're approximating year end.
(06:03):
Our fiscal year end is.
June 30 is the last day of thebudget year, so between now and
June 30, it's going to be tight.
Our budget is very tight, butwe have some year end closeouts
that we have to do and it's it'snot not pleasing to see all
this money come out and I'm likeis this money coming back in,
you know?
So, yeah, that's that's myhighs and lows.
(06:25):
Thank you for making sure thatI put it in there.
Derek (06:30):
Yes, yes, anytime.
I'm so sorry, thank you forthat.
As soon as Ramona looked at me,I was like you know, I probably
forgot something Showing upthere.
It was there, it was.
Thank you, vanessa.
Thank you, vanessa.
I was so quick to get into itbecause I was thinking about
music and then putting down.
This is how we do it.
And then I looked at Ramona.
I was like wondering how do wedo it?
How does CUF get prepared for abudget hearing?
What do we do?
Ramona (07:06):
Well, it's a complicated process, but it's sort of like
making sausage you don't reallywant to see it, but you like the
sausage at the end.
Oh, okay, all right.
No, actually it's prettystandard.
Every department goes throughthis.
You are given the opportunityto meet with the Office of
Management and Budget during thefall season and that leads up
to December when you get to asolidified budget that goes to
(07:29):
the county executive.
The county executive hears therecommendations of OMB.
Those recommendations are madeafter meetings with the
department representatives andthen the executive makes his
decision as to what he willagree to.
That will become the finalbudget for the executive, which
will go over to county council.
That date is March 15th whenit's presented to the council
(07:52):
and it's the county executive'srecommended budget operating
budget to the county council.
So it's the county executive'srecommended budget operating
budget to the county council.
So it's for every department,it's not just CUPF, it's for
every department in the county.
And the council then begins tohave its review of the process.
Its review of the processincludes public hearings, it
includes committee work sessionsand those are followed by full
(08:14):
council session, and all of thistakes place between March and
May and then there is a decisionmade in a final vote, that is,
individual votes for eachdepartment, and those votes then
by the full council become thefinal operating budget for the
departments.
Now I will say there isthroughout the year and
(08:34):
sometimes it happens right afterthe budget's approved where
they go back and take anotherlook because they hear from the
state or the feds that they'renot going to get the money for
certain programs that theythought they were going to get.
So it becomes necessary to makechanges to the already approved
budget.
So there's still sometimes someyou know adjustments that go on
, but for the most part it's thefinal budget in May and then
(09:00):
the departments begin to adjustfor their coming fiscal year
that starts July 1st, so thatthey can use that budget
throughout the year.
Derek (09:04):
Wow, ok, ok.
So we got the breakdown Allright.
So we got the breakdown fromDirector Ramona Bell-Pearson
Just throwing that out thereagain.
So, Ramona, I know we had somequestions down, had like goals
during the hearing, who'sinvolved in the hearing and
community involvement support.
You've brought up a lot of thatalready and my question is kind
of getting to the wholediscussion is I wonder, what
(09:27):
does the director do?
How do directors get preparedfor hearings?
Because I've seen you on TV.
I would love to know from eachstandpoint, like, how do y'all
get prepared?
You got the finance team, yougot the director over here.
I just it boggles my mind whenI see y'all on TV, when I see
y'all on TV and I'm just like Iwonder how they got prepared for
that.
Ramona (09:48):
Well, I think it's a partnership.
Yeah, because we have meetingswith our OMB analyst, we have
meetings with the legislativestaff for the council.
We get questions from thecouncil that give us an
opportunity to understand whatthey're thinking, how we got to
(10:19):
the numbers we got to, or whywe're suggesting the programming
or services that we'resuggesting or operational needs
that we have, and then we'rekind of able to be a little
prepared or anticipate whatthey're going to talk to us
about because of those questionsand the answers to those
questions.
Vanessa (10:28):
Yeah, I do want to mention.
Yeah, you know, when we get thequestions from county council,
we definitely know where theirmind is.
And then also, since we aretrying to implement this fee
increase for FY26, this year'squestions were much more
involved, so we had maybe liketriple, the quadruple the
questions this year.
So we we had a nice timefiguring out those questions,
(10:52):
those responses, and we actuallyjust forwarded those responses
to the county council.
You know it has to be.
We give the questions to ourOMB analysts.
We meet with our OMB analystsas well, too, to make sure we're
all on the same page and thatwe are, you know, collaborating
in our responses.
And I think that, you know,after this is over I think it's
(11:13):
very it's like we'll relax for afew weeks before we start the
budget again for the next year,but I think that it's very
involved.
There's a lot of differentcomponents that goes into the
budget every single year.
Derek (11:29):
That is, and it's a lot of work.
Kudos to y'all.
I mean, if we don't say itenough, y'all are doing some
mighty strong work right there.
That's a lot of good work and Iwant to make sure that we
understand that as a communityand also as staff and coworkers,
and just being able to witnessawesomeness going on at the same
time.
I know Ramona was talking aboutthe goals during the hearing.
(11:53):
Who's involved and I know thequestions I kind of have with
you is your experiences leadingup to the budget hearing and
what is presented.
Is there anything specific thatyou can kind of elaborate on
about your experience from thefinance team aspect of it?
Vanessa (12:12):
You know, for our budget hearings a lot of times
we have to.
Well, the questions that aregiven to us by council are
incorporated into the packet anda lot of the questions are just
financially related.
They want to know the numbersin past years, they want to know
our trends, they want to knowwhere we see ourselves in the
future.
So what's interesting is thatafter the pandemic, prior to the
pandemic I'll start there.
(12:33):
Prior to the pandemic, we werevery healthy with our fund
balance.
We were earning, I think, overa million dollars every month.
But that was also.
We had a healthy enterprisefund.
But that was also redistributedto other projects for the
community.
We redid the floors at the EOBauditorium, the carpeting, we
(12:57):
bought furniture for the recfacilities.
We also another year we did theSilver Spring Civic building's
hardwood floors.
So we always took the money thatwe had in excess over the 10%
reserve and we were able toincorporate it back into the
different facilities the countyhas.
But now, after the pandemic,we've seen that we don't have
(13:19):
those resources anymore.
Our enterprise fund last yearin FY24 ended with 11% of our
resources.
So we still met the 10% mark.
But for the second quarter ofFY25, based on the projections,
we were at 2.4% of our mandatoryreserve, so we weren't not even
close to the 10%.
(13:39):
So that's something that was.
You know, it was plain to seewhen we started doing the
questions for the county councilthat the money that we've been
receiving is not enough to coverour expenses, so so that's
something that it was like in alot of the questions.
(13:59):
You could see that the moneywasn't back to pre-pandemic
levels and, you know, hopefullyI didn't give too much
information, but, yeah, that'ssomething that went into this
year's budget when we wereanswering questions.
Thank you.
Derek (14:10):
Vanessa.
No, no, you're fine, you cankeep going if you want.
We got about five hours.
No, we do not.
So, as we continue to finishthis up and talk about so many
things, especially in regards tothis, is how we do it in
regards to preparing for thecounty budget here.
I don't know why I'm saying itlike that.
I must have a song in my heador something like that.
But as we close it out, toconfirm from Ramona's, take on
(14:32):
it, we are working on our annualreport.
It will be printed, it will bein publication.
We will make sure it getsshared and put in facilities.
The goal is to make sure weincorporated a lot of the
information from reports fromvarious managers and everything
like that is being looked overplenty of times.
Best believe, you don't want meto just look at it.
My eyes will see what my eyesare going to see, but it's
always helpful to be able towork and collaborate with so
(14:54):
many different people in ourdepartment.
So many awesome people Onceagain shout out to the
publication team, shout out tofinance child care, core
services, silver Spring CivicBuilding.
There are so many differentgroups, so many managers, so
many people that are making thishappen.
So thank you, thank you.
Thank you, ramon, I know.
Last time we did a shout out tothe finance team.
Should we do a shout out again,or should we just shout out?
(15:15):
Do you have somebody else youwant to?
Not to take anything away fromthe finance team.
Ramona (15:20):
I don't know.
I'm thinking maybe the entirestaff, because everybody's been
dealing with the whole budgetissues and stressing about how
we're doing and making sure thatthe permits are up to standard
and making sure that thecommunity is able to get as much
access as possible, which, ofcourse, benefits us too, because
it gives us more permits, whichgives us more fees.
(15:41):
So I think the whole staffmaybe could get a kudos.
Derek (15:44):
Oh, whole staff, all staff.
What about you, vanessa, anyclose outs?
Did you want to give a shoutout?
Vanessa (15:52):
OK, I did want to say thank you to Ramona for her
support.
I know that she's very involvedin assisting and trying to get
our budget together.
So thank you to Ramona.
She always has great words tomake our responses even better.
Also, thank you to the financeteam.
They're very supportive andthey do a lot of work.
And also thank you, as Ramonamentioned, to the rest of our
(16:14):
staff too, because without themthere would be no budget.
And then also the customersCustomers you're the reason that
we're here, you're the reasonthat we're.
We still have jobs and we'restill employed, and you know we
do our best to to make sure thatour customers are happy and are
able to have all the resourcesthat they need and be able to
use the facilities, and try totry to make it as seamless as
(16:37):
possible for them to rent outour space.
So thank you to them as wellthank you, thank you so much.
Derek (16:41):
And if I didn't, I don't think we mentioned it.
Vanessa (16:43):
So our timeline oh, and thank you to derek.
I apologize.
Thank you to derek, to thecommunications team.
Derek (16:49):
Thank you, good point vanessa I like that just threw
me in, and I I appreciate it,though.
So, last thing, is there a date?
What is our date for our budgethearing?
April 30th, april 30th, I don'twant to forget.
Well, I could have just said it, but I was like you know what I
felt, like it's different whenthe director says it yes, april
30th.
So be on the lookout.
We're going to keep doing whatwe're doing for the community,
(17:19):
because this is what we're herefor.
But thank you again, everybody,and see you next time.
Announcer (17:24):
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