St. Mary’s residents could soon be paying more taxes, and it would all be in the name of education.
The St. Mary’s County commissioners proposed an income tax hike at their final fiscal 2025 budget work session Tuesday in Leonardtown.
Under the proposal, the income tax rate would go from 3.0% to 3.2% — the highest allowed under Maryland state law — and the proposed $7 million in new revenue would go toward funding the county’s public school system.
The commissioners decided to test public support for the idea at a public forum on April 23 to see if people are in favor of the tax increase to help fund the school board’s requested budget or not increasing taxes and essentially forcing the public school administration and school board to cut programs, staff or other areas of the school system’s budget.
The board of education has proposed a $289 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year — an increase of $9.5 million, or 3% more compared to the current budget. About $137 million of that would is requested from the county.
“We can’t get you to $9.5 million,” Commissioner Eric Colvin said. “If we can get you to $7 million, what does that look like for you?”
“I believe we can make that work,” said St. Mary’s public schools’ Superintendent Scott Smith, who added the school board would still have to cut between 15 and 20 positions.
“We do have natural attrition and we’ve been putting together Scenario 1, Scenario 2; but ultimately we can move forward in a healthy way and not diminish the things we are currently offering for our students,” Smith said.
The board of education is also hampered by the fact that it will receive just $100,000 more in state funding in fiscal 2025, in part because of the wealth formula for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s education reform plan. The local school system’s budget is made up of roughly half from the county and half from the state.
“The state is putting us in a bad position,” Commissioner President Randy Guy (R) said.
The commissioners voted 4-1 in favor of the tax increase, with Mike Hewitt (R) voting against it.
The 90-minute meeting was tense at times with Hewitt and Smith each arguing their respective cases.
“The reality is that the school system has lost over 500 kids in the last three to four years,” Hewitt said, adding the rolling average is 146 for the last three. “It’s tough for me to tell seniors, ‘You have to pay more. You have to pay higher taxes because the school system won’t look within.’”
Later, Smith asked Hewitt if he agreed with a starting salary of $60,500 for teachers, as required by the state’s education reform plan.
“I think you can get [the raises] out of what you’ve got,” Hewitt said. “That’s what the Blueprint says.”
“The Blueprint will also say we have to redistrict and move away from inefficiencies of smaller schools,” Smith said. “Again, I’ve been here for 34 years. I hear you Commissioner Hewitt loud and clear.”
“Again sir, respectfully I’m not trying to say I don’t want to give you the money,” Hewitt said. “I’m just trying to tell you it’s not here and I don’t want to ask people who are already having a tough time making ends meet.”
Hewitt noted the school system has 500 fewer students than it did several years ago.
“The reason I think we’re losing kids is because [parents] are not putting their kids in elementary school,” he said. “There’s something going on with public education. I can go with $2 million or whatever we have [to give to the BOE], but it’s difficult for me to get my head around [the tax increase].”
Many school systems have seen a drop in enrollment since the pandemic.
“Just to be fair,” Smith said, “it is a tough time which is why you’re making the decision for your employees, which makes sense, and we’re making the decisions for our employees, which makes sense.”
Smith said there will be repercussions without the additional funding.
“If we don’t have funding for the negotiated agreement we would tell all the teachers July 1, ‘You’ll get nothing. Please don’t look across the street because we are able to give people across the street 7% increases,’ and then we will have to draw back and talk about redistricting and cutting 120 positions,” the superintendent said.
He later added that he “cannot make money out of nothing.”
“I want to help you get where you need to go,” Hewitt said, “but I think my biggest angst is the information I see seems to show that you have the money in your system to deal with it.”
When Hewitt later called for a vote, Guy (R) shook his finger and asked for a chance to speak.
“I don’t mind paying my taxes to educate those that are coming up to fill my place in life,” Guy said. “I hate to say this, but the state has let us down. That’s just the way it is, but we have to pick up the pieces.”
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