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Allegany County commissioners approve FY2026 budget, tax rates and multiple contracts
Summary
The Allegany County Commissioners adopted the fiscal year 2026 operating and capital budgets, kept the property tax rate unchanged, approved several other tax and rate items, and approved contract renewals and a public bid award during a regularly scheduled meeting.
The Allegany County Commissioners voted to adopt the county's fiscal year 2026 operating and capital budgets and approved a set of related tax rates, contracts and awards at their meeting.
Administrator Bennett said the county's FY2026 budget "includes no increase in property taxes" and that the county will raise its income tax from 3.03% to 3.2% to qualify for additional state disparity funding. The commission took a series of roll-call-style actions to finalize the budget and associated items.
The budget adoption approved a $147,717,558 combined operating and capital plan that includes a 2% cost-of-living increase for county employees and, according to Bennett, a 9% increase in the general fund. The county will use $3,100,000 of fund balance and $2,600,000 of reserved lottery proceeds for capital projects, and estimates a state-calculated disparity grant of roughly $7,200,000.
Other formal actions approved by the commission this evening included adopting the county's real property tax rate at 0.975 (unchanged), adopting the personal property tax rate at 2.4375 cents per $100 of assessable property, approving supplemental ad valorem levies for sanitary districts and special taxing areas, and adopting the county's water and sewer rates for FY2026.
The commission also approved the FY2026 Capital Improvement Program; a renewal of the county's CareFirst administrative contract; a separate renewal for stop-loss health insurance coverage; and a public bid award for site work at Village Crossing at Campobello. The board approved a consent agenda that included the FY2026 senior care system annual plan (naming the Allegany County Health Department as lead agency), a transit service change for a local route, the sale of surplus property for $4,540 to Tim and Tracy Wharton, and a short-term lease donation from Beitzel Resources to support flood recovery operations.
Votes on these items were recorded as passed by consensus or by voice vote; specific roll-call tallies were not recorded in the meeting transcript.
Ending: The commission scheduled the next meeting and moved to public comment and community updates after the action agenda.
