D1 Budget Update (and more)!

Last month, the Howard County Council passed the County's newest budget for the fiscal year! You can watch Liz's statement in support of some key D1 priorities that were included by clicking here ! Read below to learn more about those D1 priorities that passed and listen to Liz's own words from budget sessions!

Any questions about things going on at the Council level or in your community? Don't hesitate to reach out via email to CouncilDistrict1@HowardCountyMD.gov or phone at (410) 313-2001.

Liz Walsh Council Member pic with sig.png

After hours and hours of work sessions, public hearings, and one final legislative session, the County's budget for Fiscal Year 2023 was approved by the Council in a 4-1 vote! To watch the Council's full deliberation over the budget (and all of the individual sessions that led up to the vote), you can go here. Below we've listed out a few D1-specific highlights:

Money for HCPSS Staff and Students: After community members spoke out, our office (along with the other Councilmembers and the County Executive) sponsored a budget amendment to restore $5M to the school system's operating budget. This money will ensure teachers get a much needed salary increase, Special Education is fully funded, and more mental health professionals are available for direct access to our students.

Camp Ilchester: The Council approved money set to go towards the purchase and preservation of Camp Ilchester's green space! Since the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland announced their decision to sell this longtime D1 landmark, it's been a D1 priority to save this park for years to come. Thank you to County Executive Calvin Ball and the State Delegation for prioritizing this purchase as well and getting everything together so that the project could be approved by the Council! Thanks also to everyone who spoke out -- from the Save Camp Ilchester group and beyond -- and worked behind the scenes to show the importance of this special place!

MIHU Fee-in-Lieu: Currently, the County allows developers who don't want to build affordable housing on their property to pay a "fee in lieu" of building it. But, this fee is just pennies on the dollar for what building that housing would actually cost! Recognizing that, Liz sponsored budget amendments to help get the number closer to what it needs to be to actually build affordable housing. The amendment that passed moved the needle a little bit, but there's still a long way to go. The Council will be revisiting the issue when there's time for more public input into how the process can more accurately reflect how much affordable housing actually costs in our County. Watch this clip to see Liz talk about this issue at the legislative session!

Council Calendar

Now that budget's done, the Council is resuming its normal legislative calendar for the month of June. To sign up to testify at the next public hearing, click here!

Tuesday, June 21st at 7 PM -- Public Hearing for June legislation

Monday, June 27th at 1 PM -- Work Session for June legislation

Tuesday, July 5th at 7 PM -- Legislative Session for June legislation

Simulated Congressional Hearings

They're back! Elementary schools around the County welcomed back community members these past few weeks to watch HCPSS fifth graders show off their knowledge of civics and answer questions from a mock "Congressional committee" made up of local leaders!

D1 visited Rockburn, Elkridge, Hollifield Station, Northfield, Ilchester, Veterans, Ducketts Lane, and the Digital Education Center! If you participated, we hope you didn't miss Liz's cameo in the Opening Ceremonies video -- or, rather, didn't miss Liz's wig!

Congrats Grads!

To all those starting on their next steps, whatever they may be, we have this message: These past years have been quite the challenge for you, but throughout it all -- a global pandemic, political and social turmoil -- you persevered and remained resolute in your determination to make it here and become graduates. What you've endured to get here -- unprecedented. What successes you're going to bring to this world -- also unprecedented.

You, Class of 2022, are unprecedented.

To see more pictures from D1 graduations, visit the school system's Flickr page here!

Liz at Howard Community College's Commencement!

Happy Birthday EES!

Elkridge Elementary celebrated its 85th birthday with moon bounces, a water balloon toss, face painting, food trucks, DJ, and pie in the face. Really pie in Liz's face. Oh happy day Elkridge students, families, educators, and staff -- past and present!

A D1 Literary Moment

On page 48 of Through the Eyes of Poets: Ellicott City at 250 is an acrostic, a beautiful tribute to "one room overgrown" -- written by D1's own published author Patti Ross.

Thank you HoCoPoLitSo and EC250 for pure treasure.

To read the poem, click here!