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OMB flags $2.9M cable-fund discrepancy; council requests formal accounting
Summary
OMB told the committee it found $2.9 million in cable-fund monies that are restricted PEG capital funds and traced the balance to prior FiberNet accounting; the council asked OMB and the County Attorney for a formal reconciliation letter before acting on the FY26 cable plan.
The committee spent an extended portion of the meeting on the cable television fund after staff noted transfers in the executive's packet and an unexpected FY25 fund balance.
Dr. Torregas summarized the packet: the executive proposes transfers that the packet lists as $1.3 million to Montgomery College, $1.3 million to Montgomery County Public Schools, $50,000 to park and planning and roughly $6.5 million to the general fund. Staff also noted an apparent year-end fund-balance discrepancy: OMB projects the FY25 year-end balance at $2.9 million while the executive recommends targeting $1.5 million for FY26.
An OMB representative (speaker 8) explained that the $2.9 million stems from FY24 allocations originally budgeted for FiberNet that were later funded from the general fund in the county's capital plan; those amounts therefore remain in the cable fund's accounting and are restricted as PEG capital funds. "Those dollars are primarily coming from FY24... They are restricted," the OMB representative said, and added that legal counsel has been consulted about potential eligible uses.
Council members expressed concern that the restricted status and the accounting error were not surfaced earlier to council staff and requested a formal letter from OMB and the County Attorney specifying where the money was spent, what remains in the fund, and which dollars are restricted versus unrestricted. The committee paused substantive action on the cable television communications plan until that reconciliation is provided.
Next steps: OMB and the County Attorney will prepare a formal reconciliation and explanation of restricted PEG capital funds and circulation to council staff before the full-council vote on the cable plan.
