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Takoma Park awards FY27 quality-of-life grants and advances budget and compensation ordinances
Summary
Council approved a single-reading ordinance to award multifamily building improvement grants, advanced FY26 budget amendments and a stormwater amendment, and moved first-reading changes to the council compensation code; city staff and a volunteer grants committee recommended funding for 27 applicants from a $350,000 pool.
Takoma Park — On June 10 the City Council moved a package of budget and ordinance items and approved the city’s Community Quality-of-Life grant recommendations for FY27.
The grants committee, represented by Cara Tallow, reported it received 30 applications requesting a total well above the $350,000 budget. The committee said it scored applications through a two-stage process (quantitative portal scoring followed by qualitative deliberation) and recommended funding 27 applicants, partially or fully, across four priorities: food security, immigrant support services, youth enrichment/workforce development, and other community programs.
"Every applicant came with some form of matching support or volunteer time," Tallow said, noting that the recommended grants leverage the city’s investment and expand service capacity for residents. The committee’s recommendations include organizations that testified earlier in the evening about on-the-ground work serving elders, immigrants, youth and food-insecure neighbors.
Council moved to approve a single-reading ordinance to award multifamily building improvement grants; the motion passed on roll call. Council also approved first-reading ordinances related to FY26 budget amendment number four and a stormwater budget amendment; those items proceed to further legislative steps per the council’s ordinance calendar.
In addition, the council adopted a first-reading ordinance amending Takoma Park Code Chapter 2.04 to implement the 2025 council compensation committee recommendations. The amended language includes a transparency provision that requires posting council salaries annually by July 30 each fiscal year and clarifies that councilors receive the same in-lieu-of-health-insurance benefit offered to full-time city employees. The ordinance was advanced on a recorded roll call.
Votes at a glance: - Multifamily building improvement grants (single-reading ordinance): approved on June 10 (roll-call recorded). - FY26 budget amendment #4 (first reading): advanced to second reading; budget amendment addresses overtime and fund adjustments identified during FY26 operations. - FY26 stormwater management budget amendment #4 (first reading): advanced to second reading. - Ordinance amending Chapter 2.04 (council compensation committee recommendations; salary transparency): advanced on first reading (roll-call recorded).
Next steps: Grant award agreements will be drafted and executed by the Housing and Community Development Department. Staff and the grants committee will monitor quarterly reporting from grantees; council will consider the budget amendments in subsequent readings and track FY26 year-end results that may affect reserve balances.
