Commissioners reallocate part of BRAC CIP to school textbooks and technology; keep remainder in CIP

St. Mary's County commissioners agreed to move a one-time, nonrecurring allocation from the county CIP toward the Board of Education's request for textbooks and technology, while leaving the larger portion of the BRAC-designated CIP balance intact.

The decision came after staff identified $6,500,000 currently shown in the CIP as the county's BRAC contingency. Jean Cudmore, presenting the budget package, said, "We do have, $6,500,000 in our CIP for the BRAC project. We could revert this money from the CIP fund to the general fund and fund it, and then include this as an excludable cost that would come back to you in June with the final board of ed budget." Commissioners debated whether moving the money would help or hurt the county's fiscal messaging to bond raters and whether it should remain earmarked for base-protection projects.

Commissioner Hewitt argued for transferring the needed sum to the schools while Commissioner Trevor and others urged keeping most of the balance earmarked for BRAC-related uses so the county could demonstrate a specific commitment to protecting the Naval Air Station and related jobs. After discussion the board approved allocating a one-time amount for the Board of Education's request for science textbooks and technology upgrades and left the remaining BRAC-designated funds in the CIP. The board voted on a motion to fund the Board of Education request; the motion carried and a subsequent motion to leave the residual CIP balance intact also passed.

County staff said the textbook/technology amount would be financed as a nonrecurring use of fund balance (to be adjusted as part of the final budget process) and that the county would still follow its normal schedule for the FY17/FY18 maintenance-of-effort calculations. Patty (county CFO) explained that treating the school allocation as a one-time excludable item would make the schools "whole" for their FY17 negotiated items while keeping the balance of the BRAC set-aside available for CIP priorities.

The commissioners instructed staff to return a balanced budget for public hearing at the next meeting and to include documentation of the movement of funds in the reconciliation spreadsheet. The board also directed staff to continue outreach to the county's economic and education stakeholders and to prepare the formal paperwork for the textbook/technology allocation.

Votes at a glance: the board adopted motions to (a) allocate the one-time school funding and (b) retain the remaining BRAC CIP balance; both measures were approved in roll-call-style procedural votes (vote tallies not specified in the transcript).

The board left open the possibility of revisiting the BRAC fund and of supporting Saint Mary's College capital requests later if private fundraising or state timing changes warrant it.