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St. Mary’s County commissioners move Board of Education request back to MOE, narrowing budget gap pending sheriff reconciliation
Summary
At a March 14 budget work session, county finance staff and commissioners adjusted revenue and expenditure lines, agreed to treat the Board of Education request as maintenance-of-effort (MOE) for this cycle and set next steps pending the sheriff’s reconciliation of his budget, narrowing an earlier projected shortfall.
St. Mary’s County Board of Commissioners and county finance staff on March 14 reviewed updated revenue estimates and departmental changes that moved the county’s projected shortfall into a small surplus, contingent on a sheriff’s-office reconciliation.
Chief Financial Officer Patty Cudmore presented revised revenue projections showing a net increase of about $118,000 from department-level adjustments and a revenues total of roughly $220.5 million against expenses initially at $221.6 million. Cudmore and staff said they incorporated requested changes including a county employee one-step increase and reductions to the pay-as-you-go OPEB amount based on the county’s 0 percent health insurance assumption.
The board then addressed larger external requests, led by the Board of Education’s FY18 submission. Commissioners and the superintendent discussed the district’s negotiated step increase and additional staffing requests. To close the county’s gap, participants agreed to treat the school system’s FY18 ask as its maintenance-of-effort (MOE) level for this budget cycle rather than fully funding the larger request the board submitted. That adjustment moved the county’s working numbers from a deficit to a modest surplus of $328,355 on the interactive budget worksheet shown at the meeting.
Commissioners conditioned the final balance on a forthcoming reconciliation from the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s representatives said they are preparing a reconciliation of reductions and offsets (including vacant positions, one-time vehicle and equipment purchases, and other changes) that could affect whether the county restores items the sheriff had cut to meet earlier budget targets. Commissioners directed staff to hold current numbers and return with the sheriff’s reconciliation at the next work session before finalizing recommendations to public hearing.
The commissioners also directed staff to continue reconciling nonprofit requests and to re-present a final balanced worksheet at the next meeting. No formal votes were recorded during the session; commissioners signaled consensus to hold the MOE treatment for the Board of Education and to wait for the sheriff’s reconciliation before making further changes.
Looking ahead, Cudmore reminded the board that the next scheduled budget work session on March 21 would be the final balancing meeting before the commissioners adopt a recommended budget on March 28.
