St. Mary's County commissioners rebalance FY2020 budget; nonprofits, sheriff and CIP adjusted

St. Mary's County Board of Commissioners staff presented a rebalanced fiscal 2020 budget at a budget work session and said the spending plan is balanced pending final signatures and formal adoption.

County budget staff said the rebalanced total, which incorporates last week’s changes and appeals, is $250,882,351 including fund balance. Staff told commissioners they removed a proposed property tax increase (leaving the current rate at 0.8478), set the income tax rate projection at 3.1 percent, used fund balance as a one-time source for nonprofit grants and realigned capital project funding to make the numbers balance.

Why it matters: the revisions shift roughly $8.5 million in adjustments from appeals and policy decisions into the FY2020 numbers and change how recurring and nonrecurring items will be funded. That affects county operations, nonprofit programs and near-term debt capacity and informs later decisions on taxes and long-term projects.

County budget staff summarized the principal changes and the trade-offs. Staff said they reduced the proposed property-tax increase and lowered the income-tax growth assumption to 3.1 percent, which reduced…