On April 24, most candidates running in the upcoming city council election seemed to hold one of three opinions about the City of Hyattsville’s budget.
Everything is awesome: City spending improves resident’s lives, from public safety, to compost pickup, to parks, roads and services for youth and seniors.
Thinking it over: Can the city sustain recent large increases in spending? We need to see a more current audit and understand better what we owe down the road.
Give me my taxes back: Property taxes are too high, and the city has too many employees.
Eleven candidates are running in the May 13 city election, and this summary is just one lens on their views. Watch the video of our recent candidate forum, starting around minute 14, and hear the candidates’ nuanced opinions in their own words.
At our local news nonprofit, we work to keep you informed and give you context, so you can advocate for what you think is right; or at least be asking the right questions. To that end, here is a basic primer on the Hyattsville budget.
How much money does Hyattsville have?
The city projects $28 million in its general fund this summer, according to an April 4 slide, up from $25 million in the summer of 2022, and more than double the pre-pandemic number.
Outside of the general fund, the city has about $25 million more set aside for specific projects: This includes grants and money borrowed for specific purposes, like construction projects.
The city owes about $26 million, with the majority borrowed for the new police station (nearly complete), and another sizable portion for public works.
Where will Hyattsville’s money come from?
Hyattsville estimates that the city will receive $30 million between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026 (FY 2026).
About $26 million will come from taxes, and the rest from fees.
The city may borrow more money, or receive grants that would go into special funds for dedicated projects. According to staff, Hyattsville could legally borrow $33 million more if needed.
How much money is Hyattsville planning to spend next year?
As of April 21, the plan is to spend $33 million in FY 2026.
What will Hyattsville spend it on?
The biggest expenses, by department, are $14 million on the police, $8 million on public works — which includes streets, trash pickups, and parks — and $5 million on general government administration. The city plans to spend $2 million paying off debt. Together, that’s more than $29 million.
The remaining $4 million will be divided between code compliance, Call-a-Bus, the teen center, the community development department and the legislative department. The legislative department includes the budget for the city clerk, mayor and councilmembers.
How has Hyattsville’s budget changed over time?
As the value of real estate in Hyattsville has risen, so have the tax dollars the city collects. Hyattsville has had a tax rate of 63 cents for every $100 of assessed value for 20 years. Property tax revenue has risen from $5 million in FY 2006 to a projected $18 million in FY 2026, according to city data. Hyattsville population has gone up about a third in the same time frame, according to census data.
The city’s debt more than tripled over 10 years. The most recent audit (FY 2023) estimates $62 million in long-term liabilities. A similar chart in the FY 2013 audit shows only $16 million in long-term liabilities. These debts include municipal bonds, retiree medical benefits and pension liabilities. Notably, retiree medical care ballooned from $2 million to $22 million during those same 10 years.
The value of city assets, such as buildings and equipment that could be sold, has risen more slowly, from $19 million in FY 2013 to $34 million in FY 2023.
How do we know the numbers are right?
Up until the summer of 2023, numbers have been audited by an outside accountant. However, Hyattsville has not published audits for the budget years that ended in the summers of 2024 and 2025. As we have previously reported, the city has been behind on its audits since 2009.
There has been a lot of money to count: In FY 2013, total spending was $16 million; compared to $37 million in FY 2023, bolstered by federal relief funds. In the past five fiscal years, there has been an extra $18 million in federal aid to account for.
What suggestions have been made to improve the city’s budget process?
The city’s budget has come under scrutiny, in part because spending is rising from $24 million in FY 2022 to the $33 million proposed for FY 2026.
Residents have called on the city to propose a balanced budget, in which money expected to come in for the year matches money expected to go out. In recent years, the typical pattern has been for the city to pass a budget that relies on a transfer from the general fund to meet expenses, and then to spend less than anticipated. Reasons that staff cite for lower than anticipated expenses include project delays related to permitting or materials backorders, as well as unfilled positions.
In written public comment for the April 7 meeting, resident Tatjana Hrubik-Vulanovic asked the city to clearly disclose the total number of employees the city has, along with the increase in employees over time. This year the city disclosed employee numbers by department for the present and the coming year. Staff has said they are taking on an internal study of staffing levels.
Resident and Route One Finance author Claire Panak Tombes asked the city to disclose project-by-project accounting for capital improvement projects, like new buildings and renovations. A recent presentation on the capital improvement plan includes descriptions of funding sources.
During a Nov. 4 city council meeting, the city’s auditor mentioned that other cities receive regular updates during the year on how expenses are matching up with the budget, not currently a practice in Hyattsville.
What else has the city done to respond to resident budget critiques?
On Jan. 13, the Hyattsville City Council voted to create a new permanent audit committee with members who are professionals in municipal finance and related fields.
As of press time, appointments to that committee were on the agenda for the city council’s May 5 meeting. Candidates included Candace Bacchus Hollingsworth (former mayor of Hyattsville), Stanislaw Rzeznik, Glenn Robelen, Daniel Lange (a certified public accountant), and Nancy Hammond.
During the April 7 city council meeting, staff shared plans to hire a grant-writer to help increase revenue, as well as additional staff for the finance department, including a deputy budget director and a half-time intern.
The initial FY 2026 budget that staff proposed April 7 was $32 million, rather than $33 million.
On April 21, the city council added back $1 million — $800,000 of which was for five positions in the public works department, including positions supporting trash pickup, vehicle and building maintenance.
The finance department has recently published a proposal to eliminate retiree medical benefits for dependents of the city’s retirees, which the city says would bring the city’s payments down about 40% in the coming fiscal year, a savings of less than $200,000 in FY 2026. The proposal, which does not include a calculation of long-term savings, is on the agenda for the May 5 meeting.
How can I find out more?
The city’s finance department website has links to all the information about the budget that has been released so far, as well as to the prior year’s budgets and completed audits.
You can search our website, StreetcarSuburbs.News, for our articles about Hyattsville’s budget and audits over the years, including last month’s pieces on legacy costs from federal relief funding and the status on other sources of federal funding. You can find all sorts of gems, like this discussion of retiree benefits from 2013, 2014 advocacy for a property tax increase, this piece about an open community budget priority session in 2017, and the loss of the city’s bond rating in 2022.
On May 19, at 7 p.m., the council will meet, virtually, to read the proposed budget. On June 2, at noon, they plan to meet to approve it.
Most numbers above have been rounded to the closest million.
Disclosure: The Life & Times gained $15,000 from the April 21 council budget amendment, which means that our funding for the coming fiscal year would be the same as the current one. Thanks to everyone who advocated for your hometown newspaper! Advertising in our newspaper costs Hyattsville $44,000 this year, much less than it costs the city to independently print and mail their newsletter, The Hyattsville Reporter.
