Dorchester County councilors back framework for FY2026 budget, endorse tax and fee changes to cover $3.8M shortfall

Dorchester County, Md. — County staff presented a proposed FY2026 budget framework at a council work session that combines a set of revenue increases and spending shifts intended to close an estimated $3,776,000 shortfall and keep the county on a balanced budget path.

"The goal here is to get to a balanced budget," said Mister Jones, a county staff presenter, describing the need to monitor state and federal developments that affect local revenues. Staff estimates that a one-cent change in the property tax rate produces about $340,000 in revenue; without other offsets the shortfall would have required roughly a 12-cent increase in the property tax rate.

Councilors and staff outlined a package of deficit-reduction measures that together reduce the county's required property tax increase to roughly 3 cents (from the baseline 12 cents): raising the county's local income tax rate from 3.2% to 3.3% (estimated $600,000 revenue), proposing an increase to the 9-1-1 fee from $2.00 to $4.25 (estimated roughly $1,000,000 additional revenue), eliminating municipal tax differentials (estimated $1,140,000), and keeping $137,000 in recommended nonprofit funding requests under review. Taken together, staff said, these items would produce the revenue mix that supports a 3% overall property-tax impact in the proposed budget (a county rate moving from $1.00 to $1.03 per $100 of assessed value as presented to the council).

The proposal includes these notable details and clarifications provided in the work session:

- Deficit and…