The Montgomery County capital budget plan intends to aid all three Montgomery College campuses in renovation projects. Thanks to County Executive Isiah Leggett, who proposed the new budget plan, Montgomery College will be able to finish much needed repairs as well as start new projects focused on the needs of the students. A tremendous amount of time and funds will go into these improvement projects in order to make new facilities available as soon as possible.

According to Montgomery College President DeRionne Pollard, these funds and renovation projects will help the college confront the needs of the students and keep the buildings up to date with the new curriculum requirements. Pollard acknowledges, however, that funds are limited and states that the college will use the money as effectively as possible, “We know that the county and state can’t meet every need that we have.”

Legget proposes a total of $348 million for all three campuses. This money would maintain funding for the Science West building Renovation and the designing and construction of a Student Services Center at Rockville campus. This money would also help with the completion of the Science East building and a new parking garage for the Rockville campus.

Originally, the college’s capital program request for the  fiscal year of 2015 (FY15-20) was $450 million. However, Leggett only recommended $348 million. Capital budget analyst of Montgomery College, Kristina Schramm, explains how this decision was made, “The county executive basically puts out a budget that they [the county] feel they can afford, and when the college receives that information, we go back to another round with the county council.”

The  FY15-20 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) is made up of 27 projects. Affordability has to be considered throughout the entire process. Henceforth, the college must prioritize, focusing more on projects that, according to the capital program review, “add classroom and laboratory space, leverage State Aid, provide critical student support services, and maintain core infrastructure.”

In an effort to maintain affordability, two of the prioritized projects in Germantown and Takoma Park/ Silver Spring campuses had to take reductions. The money will come from the county’s general obligation bonds, the county’s current revenue and recordation taxes, as well as state aid.

Although the funds have been approved and the suggested completion date for these projects does not seem that far off, Pollard is aware of the effort that needs to be put forth by everyone involved, “We have lots of work that needs to be done.”

For Rockville campus, the completion of the Science East building is said to be completed by the spring of 2014 while the Rockville parking garage is said to be finished by the summer of 2015.