Public invited to comment on Columbia Association’s budget at meetings and work sessions through February 2018
Columbia Association is in the process of drafting its budgets for the next two-year budget cycle, which will take CA from May 2018 through April 2020. The public — including residents, representatives of village community associations, advisory committee members and others — will have ample opportunities for input at upcoming CA Board work sessions and meetings through February 2018.
Most work sessions and meetings will be held at 7:30pm at CA Headquarters, 6310 Hillside Court, located off Stevens Forest Road near the county emissions inspection station. A public budget forum will be held on Jan. 18, 2018 at 7:30pm Slayton House, 10400 Cross Fox Lane in the Wilde Lake Village Center.
Speakers are encouraged to provide written versions of their remarks. There will be time limits for each speaker. Testimony may also be submitted via email at Board.Members@ColumbiaAssociation.org or via USPS mail to CA Board of Directors, care of Columbia Association Accounting Division, 6310 Hillside Court, Columbia, MD, 21046.
The full CA budget schedule can be found at columbiaassociation.org/budget. Highlights include:
- Thursday, Sept. 14 — CA Board work session.
- Thursday, Oct. 12 — CA Board work session focusing on major capital projects, new initiatives and community stakeholder requests.
- Thursday, Oct. 19 — This CA Board work session will only be held if necessary and will focus on major capital projects, new initiatives and community stakeholder requests. Update: This work session will be held at 7:30pm on Thursday, Oct. 19.
- Thursday, Oct. 26 — This CA Board meeting will include votes on whether to include major capital projects and new operating initiatives received to date from all community stakeholders in the proposed budget document.
- Thursday, Jan. 11 — This CA Board work session will focus on the proposed draft Fiscal Year 2019 and conditional Fiscal Year 2020 budgets.
- Thursday, Jan. 18 — This public budget forum allows the community another opportunity to comment publicly on the proposed draft budgets. It will be held at Slayton House.
- Thursday, Feb. 8 — This CA Board work session will focus on the proposed draft Fiscal Year 2019 and conditional Fiscal Year 2020 budgets.
- Thursday, Feb. 15 — This CA Board work session will only be held if necessary and will focus on the proposed draft Fiscal Year 2019 and conditional Fiscal Year 2020 budgets.
- Thursday, Feb. 22 — This CA Board meeting will include a discussion and a vote on whether to approve the Fiscal Year 2019 and conditional Fiscal Year 2020 budgets and CA’s annual charge rate.
The proposed annual charge rate for FY19 and FY20 would remain the same, at 68 cents per $100 of valuation, and with an increase cap of 3.5 percent. For more information on CA’s annual charge, please visit columbiaassociation.org/annualcharge.
About Columbia Association
Columbia Association (CA) is a nonprofit community services corporation that manages Columbia, Maryland, a planned community that is home to approximately 100,000 people and several thousand businesses — and was named the No. 1 small city to live in by Money Magazine in 2016. Additional information about CA is available at columbiaassociation.org.