Leonardtown town council finalizes budget

The Leonardtown town council took care of a tax issue and finalized the town’s fiscal 2025 budget on Monday.

The council members maintained the property tax rate at 12.03 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, and approved water, sewer and trash service charges.

The council also had a chance to review its fiscal 2025 budget. The budget of $7,762,229 million is comprised of $5,078,873 from the enterprise fund (utilities) and $2,683,356 from the general fund.

The budget for the current fiscal year is $7,114,936.

Council member Mary Maday Slade thanked Treasurer Angie Graves and Town Administrator Laschelle McKay for their work, “because I know how tricky it is.”

“I’m very thankful this is not the county budget,” council member Nick Colvin said. “Ours is a lot easier.”

Council member Jay Mattingly IV added it is a “very conservative budget.”

According to documents, income tax is the largest revenue source in the budget, accounting for 41% of operating revenue. Real estate property tax is second at $800,000, or 29.81% of operating revenue.

Graves said the budget has the same tax rate as in fiscal 2024.

In third is highway user revenue distributed by the state. Though annual distributions to municipalities was decreased for several years to help balance the state budget, additional funding was restored from 2020 to 2024.

Total general fund expenses are $2.6 million, which represents a 13% decrease from fiscal 2024, due in part to the completion of major capital projects.

The town has committed $73,380 in the fiscal 2025 budget to set aside for waterfront revitalization.

“As in previous years, the monetary commitment will continue to pave the way for exploring partnerships and grants,” Graves said, “that would ensure improvements become a reality.”

The construction of an additional water storage tower is a capital project priority. An additional well for potable water is also in the fiscal 2025 budget, while plans to paint the 500,000-gallon Tudor Hall water tower have been bumped ahead to fiscal 2026.

A document stated the fiscal 2025 budget and tax rate is “fair, just, equitable and fiscally responsible” and was adopted unanimously.

A public hearing for the two items resulted in no speakers and no written documents were received.

Council member Christy Hollander was not in attendance at the meeting.

Filing deadline nearsLeonardtown residents have until Monday, April 15, to file for a seat on the Leonardtown town council. Voting for town races only will be held May 7 in Leonardtown.

The terms of Mayor Dan Burris and council members Jay Mattingly Jr. and Nick Colvin are up in May, and all three have refiled.

As of Tuesday, there were no new candidates for town council seats. Ken Held has filed for the mayor’s race.

For more information, go to https://leonardtown.somd.com/government/index.htm.