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Commissioner questions adding new elected-official positions while vacancies remain
Summary
A St. Mary's County commissioner said he is reluctant to support requests for new positions for elected offices while existing vacancies are unfilled, and suggested converting funded vacancies rather than adding staff.
A St. Mary's County commissioner said the county’s upcoming budget work session includes requests for new positions from several elected offices but argued it is difficult to fund new hires while vacancies remain unfilled.
The commissioner told colleagues the budget work session, scheduled for 1:30 p.m., would include presentations from elected offices including the Orphan's Court, Circuit Court, the sheriff, the state's attorney and the treasurer. He said many of those offices have unfilled vacancies and, in some cases, vacancies have not even been publicly advertised.
Why it matters: In a tight county budget, choosing to fund new positions rather than filling existing, funded vacancies affects service delivery and payroll commitments.
Details and context: The commissioner said he finds it “hard to support new positions when there’s still vacancies out there” but added he would be more open to converting an existing funded vacancy into a different position because the funding is already available. The transcript records this as a position the commissioner was likely to oppose in budget deliberations; no formal vote or directive was recorded in the provided text.
Ending: The remarks were part of opening comments about the day’s budget work session; the transcript does not record subsequent presentations or any final budget decisions.
