The Montgomery County Council gave final approval on Thursday to the county’s $6.7 billion operating budget for the next year – a plan driven in part by a slight increase in property taxes, primarily intended to fund the county’s public school system. 

Property owners will see rates tick up 4.7%, to about $1.02 per $100 in assessed value. That’s less than half of the rise originally proposed this spring by County Executive Marc Elrich, who lobbied to raise property taxes by 10 cents per $100.

“The 11 members of this body, as has been evident for everybody to see, have had different views and different opinions on this budget,” Council President Evan Glass said Thursday after the group finished voting. 

“Some council members wanted to spend less and have a lower tax rate, while others wanted to spend more and have a higher tax rate. The end result was one of consensus, with a majority of this body casting their support for a $6.7 billion budget that makes significant investments in our schools, our workforce and our essential services for residents,” he added.

Four of the county’s 11 council members voted against the smaller tax increase, arguing in previous weeks that Elrich’s higher tax proposal is necessary to adequately fund education and social service needs. (One of those councilmembers, District 5’s Kristin Mink, was also the sole lawmaker to vote against the budget package.)

Elrich’s 10-cent increase would have raised an estimated $220 million, money that Elrich said the Montgomery County Public Schools system needs to stay whole in the face of ballooning costs. MCPS requested a roughly $300 million increase in its budget this year to support keeping class sizes manageable, increasing teacher salaries, and adding space to early-childhood education programs, among other initiatives. 

The debate grew contentious, drawing in feedback from the county’s Board of Education to its local teachers’ union, which held a sit-in at council headquarters this month in a show of support for the higher tax rate. 

“I am concerned that our commitment to our schools is faltering exactly when we need it to be most steadfast,” At-Large Councilmember Will Jawando, who chairs the council’s education committee, said in a May budget hearing. Jawando supported Elrich’s higher tax proposal, voting against the lower rate on Thursday.