St. Mary's County commissioners review CIP, prepare for bond sale as projects shift

St. Mary's County Commissioners on Oct. 27 held their first budget work session for fiscal 2022 and focused primarily on the countycapital improvement plan and timing for a new bond sale.

The session, led by County Administrator staff and Jeanette Cudmore, the county CFO, outlined current unexpended CIP balances, cash flows through Sept. 30 and the department-level project updates that together determine when the county must return to market to sell bonds. Cudmore said the county typically waits until about $10 million of "bonds spent but not sold" accrues before beginning a new sale and recommended starting the process now to allow the roughly six months needed to close ("we have 3 years to spend" and "it takes about 6 months to get actually from the start to when we close," Cudmore said).

Why it matters: The commissioners were asked to weigh which projects remain in the near-term borrowing plan and which should be moved out or placed as "balance to complete" to keep future debt within policy limits. The CFOteam projected that, after adjustments discussed at the meeting, the immediate fiscal-year borrowing request could fall from the planed mid-30 millions to roughly $14million to $21million depending on which projects are deferred.

Major takeaways and directions

- Bond timing and amount: Cudmore told commissioners she would start the bond-sale calendar work with the county's bond adviser and return in December with a refined schedule; she noted a likely closing in late April or May if the process begins now. Commissioners asked staff to prepare both a one-year and a two-year bond-authority request for December so the board can decide whether to seek authority for multiple years at once.

- Project timing changes: Multiple CIP items were pushed out to…