Queen Anne's County proposes FY2026 budget with $8.3M boost for schools and $47.2M in capital projects

Queen Anne's County finance staff presented the county's proposed FY2026 operating and capital budgets at a public hearing in Sellersville, outlining an $8.3 million net increase for the Board of Education and a six-year capital improvement program that totals about $465 million, with $47.2 million budgeted for FY2026.

The presentation said the $8.3 million increase for the Board of Education includes $7.6 million above the county's maintenance-of-effort (MOE) requirement and $644,000 tied to state cost shifts for teacher retirements. Presenter (Finance staff) told the audience that the state has fallen behind the planned funding in the Blueprint for Maryland education plan, leaving counties to shoulder part of the shortfall.

County staff framed the operating budget around continued employee cost-of-living increases, no new county positions next year, and a projected 8.8% increase in total revenues compared with FY2025. The presentation showed property and income taxes each account for roughly 43% of operating revenue, and that the county's current property tax rate is 83 cents per $100 of assessed value and includes a 5% homestead tax credit for owner-occupied homes.

On the expense side, education remains the largest component at 43% of expenses; public safety is listed at 24%. The presentation highlighted planned departmental changes: a reorganization to merge animal control and animal services into a single unit and a split of Community Services into separate departments for Housing & Family Services and Aging & Transportation, with projected annual savings of about $200,000.

Capital spending and projects

The proposed FY2026 capital program in the presentation allocates $16.5 million to general county capital projects, $22.0 million to enterprise and special revenue fund projects, and $8.5 million for Board of Education capital…