Finance committee recommends several supplemental appropriations and a police fund transfer

The Annapolis Finance Standing Committee on Dec. 11 voted to recommend a package of supplemental appropriations and a fund transfer, approving voice motions and favorable recommendations on several items.

The committee recommended a $53,000 fund transfer (FT 525) inside the Annapolis Police Department budget to move money from supplies and other accounts to capital outlay for renovations to the department firing range, specifically to cover lead abatement, disposal and electrical work on the range ventilation system. Captain Amy Meggeth and Police Administrative Manager Craig Medley spoke about the need for the work and the estimated cost.

The committee also recommended favorable action on multiple supplemental appropriations: - SA 16-25 (Community Development Block Grant, HUD): staff described the measure as an accounting adjustment reflecting HUD award amounts different than budgeted; no policy changes were reported. - SA 18-25 (Affordable Housing Trust Fund): the council recommended appropriating $11,140 to the trust fund contractual services account to support the city’s rental assistance program. City staff said higher-than-expected occupancy tax revenue produced an available surplus to appropriate. Office of Community Services and finance staff discussed program balance and reporting; staff reported a total rental assistance fund of about $154,000 and that the program’s maximum per recipient is $3,000, with the average rent award about $2,000; there have been roughly 65 rent awards and about 20 utility awards to date. - SA 19-25 (Office of Emergency Management, Homeland Security grant): the committee recommended appropriating a $4,099 federal grant to pay for one information-systems security certification for a DIT employee. Director Kevin Simmons said no matching funds were required. - SA 20-25 (Police — Justice Assistance grant for body-worn camera reviewer): the committee recommended appropriation of $85,400 (salary $70,000 plus fringe) from a federal/state pass-through grant to fund a body-worn camera reviewer position the police department had been unable to hire from a prior reduction. - SA 21-25 (Harbormaster — Maryland DNR mooring-field design grant): the committee recommended accepting a $5,000 Department of Natural Resources grant; staff said the city will add $5,000 of local funds for design and engineering to reconfigure the mooring field off St. Mary’s to better accommodate larger transient vessels and provide GPS coordinates for mooring ball placement. Staff said the reconfiguration is expected to keep the same number of moorings but improve productivity; transient stays would be up to two weeks. - SA 22-25 (MDOT large urban grant reset): the committee recommended appropriation of an additional $339,538 from the Maryland Department of Transportation to bring the MDOT large urban grant to $801,971 for FY25. Transportation staff said the funding is intended to support fixed-route operations (and related ADA service obligations) and described the appropriation as restoring funding after an earlier proposed cut (House Bill 960 was referenced in committee discussion as the legislative vehicle that reallocated funding).

All of the above items were advanced by favorable voice recommendation; committee members recorded aye votes but did not provide roll-call tallies in the meeting transcript.