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Salisbury council approves budget, rate increase and multiple grants; several appointments confirmed
Summary
At its May 12, 2025 legislative session the Salisbury City Council approved the FY2026 budget and a 6% water and sewer rate increase, accepted several grants and appointed members to local advisory bodies. All recorded motions carried by voice vote; no opposing votes were announced in the meeting transcript.
Salisbury City Council on May 12, 2025 adopted a series of resolutions and ordinances including the FY2026 budget, a 6% increase to water and sewer rates and multiple grant acceptances and contracts. Council also approved appointments to local advisory boards and accepted state and private grants to support public works, arts programming and public safety equipment.
The most consequential vote was adoption of the FY2026 budget ordinance (Ordinance 2935) establishing the city's general fund appropriations for July 1, 2025–June 30, 2026 and appropriations for enterprise funds including water and sewer, the parking authority, marina and stormwater. At the same meeting the council approved Ordinance 2936 to raise water and sewer rates by 6%, with the change to apply to all bills dated Oct. 1, 2025 and thereafter unless revised.
Other approved items included: - Resolution 3382: Annexation of approximately 2.954 acres known as Pine Way Pohankakea into the city. - Resolution 3395 and 3396: Appointments of Brad Phillips and Brett Murphy to the Salisbury Zoo Commission (terms ending May 2028). - Resolution 3397: Reappointment of Elise Trelegan to the Sustainability Advisory Committee (term ending May 2028). - Resolution 3398: Approval of the city's action plan for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program year 2025. - Ordinance 2929 (second reading and adopted): Appropriation for the Parkville Field raw water line replacement project. - Ordinance 2930 (adopted on second reading): Acceptance of a $10,000 grant from the Maryland State Arts Council and related budget amendment for planning a new art installation in the city park. - Ordinance 2933 (first reading, acted on by council): Budget amendment to appropriate $1,863.05 in insurance proceeds to the Salisbury Fire Department operating budget for repairs to an assistant chief vehicle. - Ordinance 2934 (first reading, acted on by council): Acceptance of a $250,000 grant from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and authorization for a subrecipient agreement with Railroad Avenue Investments LLC for the Union Railway Station stabilization project; described in the meeting as a reimbursement-style subrecipient agreement limited to eligible project expenses. - Ordinance 2937 (adopted on first reading): FY2026 fee ordinance to set municipal fees for the fiscal year.
Council also moved forward several smaller administrative and capital items during the work session portion: acceptance of a DNR Waterway grant to replace boat motors for rescue/shore operations, continuation of a Title Health subgrant ($74,740) for the Swift community paramedic program (partial salary/benefits), and use of proceeds from surplus equipment sales to fund medical equipment and vehicle/building repairs in the fire/EMS division.
Most motions on consent and on each ordinance or resolution were made and seconded from the dais and recorded as carried by voice vote with all present saying “aye.” The meeting transcript contains no recorded “no” votes for those items.
No formal council action was taken on the public comments that followed; several community members urged the council on topics ranging from affordable housing and developer site-management to public art and crosswalks.
