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St. Mary's County commissioners set budget direction, back higher revenue estimate and pay increases
Summary
At a budget work session, commissioners endorsed a more optimistic revenue sensitivity, prioritized employee and public-safety pay adjustments, and directed staff to pursue LOSAP benefit changes and financing options for a $3M rescue-squad renovation.
The St. Mary's County Board of Commissioners met in a budget work session and provided staff with direction to build a recommended budget based on a more optimistic revenue scenario and targeted compensation increases. Chair (speaker 2) opened the session and turned the presentation over to the county CFO (speaker 3).
Commissioner (speaker 4) proposed raising the property-assessment growth assumption to 6% and increasing the income tax projection, arguing that recent assessment figures and distribution trends support a 7% revenue-growth scenario for the county. "I believe this instead of 100...I really think it's gonna be...we're low at 168 because if we just get what we get last year, we're gonna be 170," the commissioner said while urging staff to model a 7% revenue growth to test whether the county can fund priorities.
That revenue assumption, staff said, would yield roughly $23 million to $24 million of budget capacity that could be used to fund the Board of Education request, county employee COLAs and market adjustments. Commissioners signaled support for funding schools and county staff while balancing other priorities.
On compensation, commissioners agreed to a mix of cost-of-living and market adjustments: a countywide market adjustment of about 3.66% for non-sworn positions, a 2% COLA for many partner agencies, step increases of 2.5%, and a proposed 3% sworn market adjustment for public-safety employees. The sheriff (speaker 17) told the board that even with increases at the lower end of the scale the county remains behind neighboring jurisdictions for some ranks and that pay changes are needed for recruitment and retention.
The session also covered nonrecurring fund balance uses (including an updated snow-event cost of about $4.4 million), nonprofit grant recommendations, and possible uses of the general fund reserve. David Yingling, deputy county administrator (speaker 15), explained new grant oversight procedures and said applicants now submit accomplishment reports for scoring.
Formal votes were not taken at the meeting, but commissioners provided clear direction for staff to prepare a county administrator recommended budget that implements the agreed assumptions and to bring back detailed spreadsheets next week. The board also approved, by consensus, moving a Bay District fire tax-rate request to a public hearing on April 21.
The board scheduled follow-up work next week to finalize numbers, review LOSAP and fire-rescue loan proposals, and prepare materials for the public hearing and the February–March public review process.
