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Wicomico County executive submits balanced FY26 operating and capital budget at revenue cap rate
Summary
County executive submitted the proposed FY2026 operating and capital budget to the Wicomico County Council proposing a tax rate at the revenue-cap level, funding the school systemmaintenance-of-effort request for FY26, $16 million in capital pay-go and programmatic increases including county employee cost-of-living adjustments.
The county executive submitted the proposed fiscal year 2026 operating and capital budget to the Wicomico County Council on a motion to set council review dates, covering the period July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.
Pamela, the county finance director, told the council the proposal is a balanced budget "as required by the charter" and that the property tax rate is set at the revenue-cap number of 0.8099, a decrease of just over 3 cents from last year. She said the county's assessable base grew by more than 9 percent, and that personal property tax rates were reduced to comply with state limits tying personal property to real property rates.
The nut of the budget, officials said, is a mix of recurring and one-time changes. Pamela said the budget includes a one-time increase in a disparity grant of $2.7 million from the state but that the state also passed along roughly $1.7 million in teacher pension costs, which offsets part of the bump. She cautioned that income tax receipts are volatile: the county receives those amounts 18 months in arrears from the state, and the estimates must be monitored as the year progresses.
County leaders told the council they included funding to meet the Board of Education's maintenance-of-effort (MOE) requirement and that the board's requested investment is included for FY26. The executive said the MOE amount rises automatically with enrollment and that the county committed to the current request this year, while acknowledging the recurring nature of the cost.
On capital spending, officials said the budget provides $16 million in capital pay-go across 28 projects and plans for some debt issuance for specific capital projects. A change in state funding for Fruitland Primary significantly affected the schedule: the Interagency Committee (IAC) increased the school's state grant from an original $5 million to $12 million for FY26, a $7 million swing that eliminated the need for county forward funding for that project in FY26 and eased the county's 2026 cash-flow requirements. County staff said forward funding could remain a possibility in FY27.
The budget also includes the second year of the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) contract; most county departments are proposed to receive a 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) effective the first full pay period in July and a 2 percent step increase in January. Departments operating as enterprises, such as solid waste and the civic center, include proposed fee and rate increases to better fund operations and capital needs; solid waste rate increases were noted as a means to avoid borrowing for future landfill cells.
The finance director asked council members to schedule budget work sessions and offered to return with department heads to answer detailed questions, noting staff can provide information in advance to improve responsiveness.
Council review and public hearings were discussed as the next steps in the budget process.
