Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Budgeting topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bel Air staff present FY2026 tentative budget showing modest revenue growth and balanced funds
Summary
Town staff presented a tentative fiscal year 2026 budget that staff said is balanced and shows modest revenue growth driven by property and state-shared taxes; commissioners reviewed revenue projections, reserves and next steps for department reviews.
Lisa, a town finance staff member, led an overview of the town's tentative fiscal year 2026 budget at the Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners' April 9 budget work session.
She said the FY2026 draft is balanced and organized by four funds: general fund, sewer, parking (enterprise funds) and special revenue. The presentation highlighted the revenue side first and showed proposed expenditures and department budgets in separate tabs.
The draft shows real property tax revenues estimated at about $9,215,000 (roughly a 4.3% increase compared with assessments received to date of about $8.8 million for FY25), and includes the town's current tax rates noted in the packet: 54 cents per $100 of assessed value for real property and $1.20 for personal property. Staff said volunteer fire company tax credits (about $13,000) and historic-district credits (about $7,000) reduce the gross real property figure used to balance the budget.
State-shared income tax projections formed another focus. Lisa said income tax is hard to predict because the state provides no firm projections; the FY26 estimate presented was $2,447,000 (about a 2% increase from the FY25 estimate), based on historical distributions and expected year-end accruals. Highway-user revenue was budgeted at $805,562; staff said the town had a recent increase in that account and planned to program an additional street into next year's street-construction plan.
On the expenditure side, Lisa highlighted that salaries and benefits represent 66.1% of the total general-fund budget in FY26, down from 70.2% in FY25 (that FY25 percentage was based on the budget adopted last year, staff said). She cautioned that the town watches that share closely and noted experts generally recommend reassessing if it reaches the mid-to-high 70% range.
The presentation included the town's capital improvement program (CIP) for FY26 and an itemized list of vehicles, equipment and building projects. Lisa said the packet and the more detailed departmental reviews scheduled at upcoming sessions would provide further detail.
The board did not take formal action on the tentative budget at the work session; staff said the schedule includes subsequent work sessions (next regular work session and budget discussion on April 15) and department-level reviews in the coming weeks.
Looking ahead, Lisa said she would provide the commissioners with updated reserve and fund-balance figures and other follow-up items requested during the session.
