St. Mary's County commissioners reallocate $150,000 to State's Attorney ahead of final budget vote

The St. Mary's County Board of Commissioners agreed to add $150,000 to the State's Attorney's Office budget and directed staff to incorporate that change into the package for final adoption next week.

Commissioner Colvin proposed the reallocation during the board’s final budget work session, saying the increase should be “pegged somehow into something before we approve the budget finally next week.” The board discussed potential offsets and identified a combination of departmental and reserve reductions to cover the amount.

Finance staff reported updates to revenue projections and the operating budget before the board’s discussion. Deputy Director of Finance Joyce Sapp and Finance lead Vinay Panetta said the requested operating budget totals $348,600,000, that revenue growth now looks like 4.0 percent (compared with a prior 4.8 percent gross estimate after accounting for identified adjustments), and that the county is targeting a 15 percent fund balance reserve, a level they estimated at $50,500,000 for the fiscal year shown.

To produce the $150,000 for the State's Attorney, the board identified the following offsets during the meeting record:

- Pause the CSM employee/leadership development program for one year: $52,000. - Reallocate approximately $25,000 from legal/contract services that will not be required going forward. - Freeze a vacant equipment operator position (salary roughly $47,000 plus roughly $14,000 in fringe), to be held vacant for the budget year. - Reduce the commissioner reserve by approximately $12,000 to cover any remaining difference.

Commissioner Colvin stated the money should be given to the state's attorney “and let her decide how she wants to allocate that” with the understanding staff would pin down the allocation before final budget adoption. County Attorney Hawkins explained that the approximately $25,000 in legal savings reflected both a previously requested planning‑commission legal position that was not approved and a contract legal services line that would be terminated.

State's Attorney (name not specified) spoke at length in support of more resources, saying the office “desperately need[s] more resources” and urging commissioners to consider the county’s caseload and growth when deciding staffing levels. The State's Attorney said the office had requested additional courtroom and prosecutor resources in prior cycles and that the $150,000 would be used to create attorney/prosecutor positions if staff and human resources could finalize the allocation quickly.

Several commissioners voiced reservations about using piecemeal cuts. Commissioner Hewitt called the approach “lousy budgeting” and warned against “robbing from Peter to pay Paul,” while others said they would accept the compromise now and consider broader budgeting reforms later; one commissioner suggested exploring zero‑based budgeting in a future cycle. A roll‑call vote was taken; the chair instructed finance and human resources to identify exactly how the $150,000 would be applied so the board could approve the change when it adopts the budget next week.

Staff noted they had no additional changes to the capital improvement plan (CIP) and will present the full adoption package at the board meeting next Tuesday. Separately, the board discussed an administrative deadline for signatures on the adoption package related to treasurer timelines and agreed to sign as needed to meet those deadlines.