Planning commission accepts St. Mary’s County FY2026 capital improvement request; schools, parks and preservation highlighted

The St. Mary’s County Planning Commission voted to accept the county’s FY2026 capital improvement budget request and the FY2027–2031 plan at its March 10 meeting.

Vanetta Van Cleave, identified in the meeting as the county finance director, presented the plan and said the total for FY2026 is $75,402,517. She told the commission the plan lowers near-term projected spending compared with earlier estimates, in part because the county pushed the sheriff’s headquarters project into FY2028 and accelerated funding for Chopticon High School.

The budget’s immediate significance: it sets project timing and funding assumptions for schools, parks, bridges and land-preservation programs. Van Cleave said the plan would keep the county’s outstanding-debt ratio “well below the 1.8 limit,” citing projected outstanding-debt percentages of 1.37 and 1.42 for the two near years shown in the presentation. She also noted bond-funding ratios of roughly 63% in FY2025 and about 58% and 57% in the next two years under the proposed plan.

School funding and Chopticon High School: Kim Howell, representing St. Mary’s County Public Schools, said the state is “really behind us this year.” Howell told the commission the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC) used a conservative estimate of the governor’s budget to make a recommendation and that the school system is on track to receive $9.2 million in the first year of the Chopticon High School project under the IAC recommendation. Howell added that the district also expects a Built to Learn allocation of $13 million and plans to use the last year of the state’s Healthy Schools Fund to cover the Chopticon roof; together, the district plans to combine three state funding sources to finance the multi-year project. Howell said the state funding picture will not be final until the legislature approves the budget in April and that the Chopticon project will take about three years to fund from the state.

Parks and harbors: Ray Bivens, director of Recreation and Parks, said the Snow Hill boat ramp project advanced when the county received the final critical-area permit the previous month. Christy Bishop, identified in the meeting as a project manager with Parks and Recreation, said the department is working to finalize an easement and coordinate dredging with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Bishop said staff are “fingers crossed” to put the project out to bid in spring or early summer and to start construction in the fall, pending dredging and permitting constraints. Commissioners and staff noted that seasonal restrictions for dredging and coordination with the Corps will affect the schedule.

Dredging and drainage projects: Donnie Mills, assistant director of the Department of Public Works and Transportation, explained that Army Corps work typically begins with a survey to map channel and bottom conditions, which informs dredge volume and staging requirements. Mills said the Corps conducts the survey and that Corps work and environmental permitting drive timing and costs; the county’s CIP schedules some dredging and drainage work in later years (for example, work shown in the plan around FY2030), pending those studies.

Bridges and the federal bridge replacement program: Mills and other staff explained that the federal bridge replacement program is managed through the state. Funding for federally aided bridge projects flows from federal to state agencies, which then manage project delivery; as a result, some bridge projects funded through federal programs may not appear as county cash outlays in the CIP because the state handles and tracks that funding. Staff said the county may still have involvement as the project moves through design and environmental review, and noted staging and environmental constraints for certain bridge sites.

Land preservation and new urban legacy proposal: Chris Casalemas, director of Economic Development, summarized land-preservation programs in the CIP. He described the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF) matching program (county dollars leveraged by state contributions), the rural legacy program (managed with local partners such as Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust and RC&D), and a proposed new urban legacy program. Casalemas said MALPF leverage can bring roughly $3.3 million in total project funding where the county contributes up to $2 million and the state matches (figures were described by staff as approximate and program-driven). He said the county’s proposed urban legacy fund would start with about $600,000 in county funding and about $500,000 from REPI (Navy compatibility funding) to preserve selected parcels inside development districts where preservation is desired.

Other transportation projects: Commissioners discussed local intersection and roundabout projects around the Wildwood area and constraints including utility coordination and state approvals. Staff said some projects are advanced through developer participation and state coordination but have complex utility and environmental steps to clear before construction can begin.

Vote and next steps: A commissioner moved and a second was recorded; the commission approved the FY2026 capital improvement budget request and the FY2027–2031 plan by voice vote. The meeting record did not include a numerical roll-call tally. Van Cleave and other staff emphasized that the CIP will be revisited and refined annually and that many projects depend on state or federal funding decisions and permitting.

The plan and staff presentations continued to a brief question-and-answer period with department heads; items flagged for additional follow-up included more detail on grant status for individual projects and scheduling constraints tied to Corps surveys and environmental permitting.