Howard County Council approves $1.59 million in additional appropriations, funds salt barn, sidewalks and highway equipment

Howard County Council voted to approve three measures Wednesday that reallocate and add funds across multiple county accounts, including money to finish a salt barn and pay final sidewalk bills, and a large transfer into highway equipment.

The council approved Ordinance 2025 HCCO-02, the additional-appropriations ordinance that lists additions and reductions across dozens of county funds and programs. The ordinance, read in full before the vote, captures appropriations for the County General Fund, the Economic Development Fund (a $392,500 sidewalk project), the LIT Special Purpose Fund (jail correction officers), Community Corrections and numerous grant and user-fee funds. It also includes a $500,000 addition to the Local Road and Street Fund for vehicles and a $28,855.68 increase for stormwater contract services. The ordinance as presented totals roughly $1.59 million in additional appropriations for the county.

Council members also approved Resolution 2025 HCCR-02, a transfers resolution that moves budgeted sums between major classifications inside departments so the county’s accounting matches the amounts available in grant and special funds. The transfers primarily adjust payroll and benefit lines after staffing and salary changes earlier in the year.

Separately the council approved Ordinance 2025 HCCO-03, amending the 2025 salary ordinance to correct and update several staffing and salary lines after recent hires and reassignments. The ordinance includes changes such as adding a chief deputy coroner line item, updating prosecutor and probation allocations, and technical corrections where previously recorded salary lines did not match actual staffing.

Among the specific items highlighted during the meeting: the council approved a $392,500 appropriation for a downtown sidewalk project; additional appropriations to finish the salt barn construction, which council members said is near completion once electrical and water hookups are finished; and a request from the highway superintendent to appropriate an additional $500,000 to the local roads & streets equipment line to purchase up to three dump trucks and vehicle equipment, and to install GPS tracking on county vehicles to improve route efficiency and safety.

Highway Superintendent Amber Toll told the council the department ordered three dump trucks in 2021 and only received the last of those vehicles this month. Toll said supply-chain delays have made planned, steady replacement of aging equipment difficult. The council heard that using the GPS trackers on a handful of test vehicles in January shaved nearly an hour from a single plow route by optimizing the route and will give maintenance staff diagnostic alerts when vehicle systems signal trouble.

County staff and council members emphasized that the additional appropriations and transfers are intended to align budgets with actual grant awards and contracts, not to create new recurring obligations. Multiple speakers noted that some increases simply reflect corrections to lines where the salary ordinance or grant awards had not been updated to match actual hires and state grants.

The measures passed on voice votes with no roll-call tallies recorded in the minutes. Council members described the package as largely “cleanup” to align the county’s books with grant awards and contract obligations; they also flagged larger policy discussions looming at the state level and encouraged participants to follow proposed changes to county funding formulas.

The council adjourned after approving the ordinances and the transfers resolution. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Feb. 25 at 4 p.m.