Subscribe
Community
County budgets take hit, but not knockout blow
St. Mary's spending plan for fiscal 2010 dips slightly as surplus is used to cover expected revenue shortfalls
Friday, April 17, 2009
_Photo=8609>
The $200.4 million operating budget for fiscal year 2010 that the St. Mary's County commissioners are taking to public hearing next Tuesday evening is 1.1 percent less than the current spending plan.
The commissioners also propose a capital budget for construction projects of $27.3 million next year.
The commissioners' budget message said, "To say this is a challenging period is not news to you. Our budget for FY2010 is simple and straightforward."
With cuts in the amount of state aid coming to counties, St. Mary's plans to use $3 million of surplus dollars this year to plug the hole.
The plan is to continue to use $3 million each year for the next two years after that.
With the state budget now finalized, "There's no doubt that these cuts are greater than what we based on our recommended budget on the county side," said Elaine Kramer, chief financial officer for St. Mary's County government.
The impact of more state cuts affecting the county budget will be at least $750,000, if not more, she predicted. "We'll work through it to figure out what it is."
County government has set aside a reserve of $946,598 that could be appropriated after the public hearing in addition to a budget stabilization fund.
Since Kramer took her post in 2000, surplus funds have not been used to fund recurring costs.
She characterized their use now as revenue replacement, supposedly a temporary use. In the past such surpluses were set aside and accumulated unspent.
"This resulted in fund balances that were sometimes criticized as excessive," the commissioners' message said.
But this year recordation and other real-estate revenues were below projections. In addition the state is keeping $3 million in gas tax that last year came to the county.
However, property taxes are expected to bring in $7.7 million more, an increase of 9 percent.
The property tax rate remains the same at 85.7 cents per $100 of assessed value. It would have to be lowered to 79.8 cents to keep property taxes steady. If the commissioners used that constant yield rate, county government would lose $6 million in additional revenues.
The board of education is scheduled to receive $79.9 million from local funds and the library system $2.3 million in local funds. The sheriff's office stands to receive $31.6 million, an increase of 3.8 million.
Repaying past debt will cost $13.5 million and funding retiree health costs will need $4.9 million.
With the opening of the new Evergreen Elementary School in Wildewood this fall, there are 38 more school board positions and six new corrections positions for the jail expansion in Leonardtown.
There are no other new positions in county government funded in the proposed budget.
The decisions on the building budget were made in March.
"We are investigating the available stimulus funds to determine whether and how much they affect our capital plan," the budget message stated.
"We look forward to the input from the public," said Commissioner Thomas A. Mattingly Sr. (D) on Wednesday. "We hope it gives them an opportunity to hear the details of the budget," and how the process works. "We hope that people understand we're working in a difficult budget time," he said.
