Calvert County commissioners present FY26 budget with $17.8M reductions; public comments focus on parks, EMS and schools

Commissioner Hans, president of the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners, opened the May 6 public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2026 (FY26) budget and told residents the current recommendation balances the budget without new taxes or “pass along” costs to county taxpayers.

"There are no tax increases or, other pass along cost to our citizens that we're gonna impose tonight to balance this budget," Commissioner Hans said, announcing the public hearing and that the board will accept public comment through 4:30 p.m. on June 9 before a planned adoption vote at the board's June meeting.

The county's commissioner's FY26 proposal reflects a roughly $17.8 million revenue shortfall after $2.2 million in state pass-through costs were shifted to the county, finance staff said. To close that gap, administrators and finance staff described a package of near-term reductions and funding realignments: about $17.6 million in departmental operating cuts, a $6.8 million reduction in PAYGO capital funding, an $840,000 decrease tied to the state's maintenance-of-effort for the Board of Education, projected attrition savings of $2.7 million, elimination of $2.4 million in vehicle requests, and other non-mission-critical reductions (training, mileage, subscriptions) totaling roughly $660,000.

Beth Richmond, senior adviser for the Department of Finance and Budget, summarized the meeting's agenda before the staff presentation and noted the board asked for a zero-based budgeting approach this year. County Administrator Mark Willis said the board moved to a zero-based review "to ensure that every dollar is intentionally placed" and to align spending with the commission's strategic priorities.

Bruce Miller, the county's finance director, gave line-item summaries: total operating revenues in the package are presented at about $385 million, with property and income taxes comprising roughly $350 million of that total. The general fund represents about 84 percent of operating funds overall, Miller said. He also noted that the county anticipates roughly $21.3 million in external grant funding for the Northern Middle School construction project and that, aggregated, county commitments to public education (operating, debt service, state teacher pension and OPEB and CIP) total approximately $202.4 million.

The FY26 capital improvement plan (CIP) shown at the hearing includes $62.1 million in project appropriations for the first year of a six-year plan, financed with a combination of PAYGO transfers ($6.9 million), debt ($23.1 million), excise taxes ($1.0 million), enterprise capital charges ($0.75 million) and $30.2 million in external state and federal grants or loans. Major CIP priorities identified are education ($31.6 million, including the Northern Middle School), enterprise water and sewer projects ($11.2 million), transportation and paving ($7.9 million, including $5.0 million for the county paving program), public facilities renovations, parks investments and public safety apparatus.

Staff emphasized that the recommendation preserves step and cost-of-living adjustments for county employees and adds nine‑one‑one staff and expanded EMS career staff, while exempting the sheriff's office and state's attorney's office from reductions. The FY26 budget also includes a $400,000 contingency for the county administrator and a $1.1 million investment to enhance career EMS staffing; staff said some of those increases are offset by corresponding revenue adjustments.

Dr. Townsville, superintendent of Calvert County Public Schools, presented the school system's budget request and described continuing cost pressures from inflation, the state "Blueprint for Maryland's Future" requirements (including teacher starting salary and career ladder costs), and the expiration of ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) grant funding. Townsville said the school system is not requesting additional local funding beyond FY25 levels and plans to use underspent balances from prior years and projected FY25 savings to meet obligations.

Public comment focused on parks and recreation funding, the county's EMS staffing plans, and employee concerns:

- Judy Peterson, chair of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, urged restoration of operational funding and warned that delays to CIP projects will affect maintenance and programming. "Fields still need to be mowed, bathrooms need to be cleaned, and trash cans emptied," Peterson said, and she proposed voluntary workforce expansion and a park foundation as long-term tools.

- Marcus Shields, a Prince Frederick resident and Parks Advisory Board member, emphasized parks' role in preserving the county's character and cited national studies he said link recreation participation to reduced juvenile arrests and drug use.

- Jerry Mumper, speaking on behalf of Calvert Advance Life Support, urged caution before adding four new full‑time EMS supervisor positions in FY26. Mumper said the county currently has about 37 volunteer paramedics and argued that rapid career EMS expansion could harm the volunteer system; he provided salary‑cost figures presented in prior meetings and urged the commission to study alternatives before approving additional positions.

- Barbara Warner, chair of the County Employees Representative Committee (CRC), thanked the board for recent engagement and reiterated employees' request that the budget include both step increases and a cost‑of‑living adjustment.

Other speakers raised questions about transparency in the budget document and asked for clarifications on fund balance reporting and pilot program revenues.

Votes and next steps: the board took two procedural voice votes at the hearing. A motion to reconvene as the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners carried by voice vote after a motion and second; the commission later voted (motion and second) to leave the record open for public comment through the close of business on Monday, June 9, 2025. Staff said the board plans to adopt the FY26 budget at its regularly scheduled June meeting (staff referenced the June 10 meeting date during the hearing). Public comments will be accepted until 4:30 p.m. on June 9, 2025.

Why this matters: county staff said the recommended package balances the FY26 budget without a tax increase by combining reductions, reclassifications of certain revenues to special funds, reduced PAYGO capital spending and use of attrition savings. Several public commenters warned that the cuts and staffing changes have real operational impacts for parks, volunteers in EMS and county employees. The board left the record open for additional comments through June 9 before final adoption.

The record of the commissioner's FY26 recommendation, supporting slides and public comment procedures are available on the county website and printed copies at Calvert County libraries, staff said.