County council restores several DHHS nonprofit grants and approves public health services budget as amended

The Montgomery County Council approved the Public Health Services portion of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) FY27 operating budget as amended during its May 7 session, voting unanimously to accept committee recommendations and several amendments to restore prior nonprofit funding.

Council member Don Lukey, who reported the committee’s DHHS review, said the county executive recommended an overall DHHS operating increase of $18,913,060 (3.39%), including a county general fund increase of $30,606,294 and an executive proposal for 50.15 additional FTEs. Lukey and DHHS staff described a department reorganization that creates new program areas in public health, homelessness services and behavioral health.

Early in the public-health discussion, Council member Krista Mink moved to restore three items that had appeared in last year’s budget—American Diversity Group (ADG), the George B. Thomas Learning Academy, and BlackRock—into the budget base. Members including Andrew Friedson, Will Jawando and Lauren Saleshand voiced support, saying the organizations provide essential services and that removing funding would create unnecessary uncertainty for service providers. The motion to move ADG and related items into the base passed unanimously by raised hands.

Staff described specific public-health items recommended by the committee. Among them, a Montgomery Cares primary-care reimbursement-rate increase would cover roughly 78,000 encounters at an estimated cost of $1,564,817 and was recommended for approval by the committee. School-health and nurse-management items were also discussed, including recommended contractual conversions and a proposal to partially downsize two low-utilization school-based health centers to three days per week.

Council member Kate Stewart urged colleagues to consider additional funding for the MOCO Pride Center, noting prior supplemental funding and the center’s planned expansion to Silver Spring. Members discussed whether these items came in the county executive’s original request or were added by the council; staff clarified which funds the executive had proposed and which had been added by council action in previous years.

After deliberation, the council approved the public health services budget as amended and moved other committee recommendations forward for subsequent reconciliation action. The council’s unanimous approval means the amended public-health items will be carried into further budget reconciliation and adoption steps.

The council recessed to continue additional budget items in the afternoon.

Ending: The council approved the morning committee recommendations and recessed; outstanding reconciliation items—such as additional tranches for the MOCO Pride Center and other nonprofit restorations—remain on the reconciliation list for final action next week.