CENTREVILLE — With passion for the community and open dialogue, Queen Anne’s County commissioners held three public hearings for resident feedback regarding the proposed FY25 budget on May 20, 21 and 22.
County administrator Todd Mohn presented an overview of the proposed budget. Tax rates are proposed to remain the same as the prior year with the property tax rate at $0.83 out of $100 of assessed value and the income tax rate of 3.2%.
The county is expected to see a budgeted growth of 4.1% increase from FY24.
Total revenues for FY25 are projected at 191,173,501.
The proposed operating budget is $191.2 million, a 4.1% increase over last year. The proposed FY 2025 capital budget comes in at $45 million and the six-year capital projects plan for all county agencies and the Board of Education is $331 million.
The property tax rate is proposed to remain the same as the last two years, at $0.83 per $100 of taxable assessed value. The income tax rate of 3.2 percent will also remain constant.
The FY 2025 proposed budget Board of Education funding is $73,885,219, which is $5.8 million above the enrollment-based maintenance of effort (MOE) certification level and equates to a 7.3% higher allocation than last year.
The Board of Education comprises 42% of the total county operating budget and 52% of the total capital budget.
More than 40 residents stood up to speak their allocated three minutes during the first public hearing May 20 at the Kent Island Library branch.
Thanking the commissioners for their continued support, many speakers voiced urging for continued support and sought to identify ways to increase funding for public schools.
Facing a difficult budget situation, education administrators, teachers and parents urged continued commissioner support and voiced in favor of considering increased funding to public schools.
With Queen Anne’s County Public Schools receiving nearly 6 million over the required funding to go toward salary enhancements inline with the Blueprint as well as rising costs of insurance, Superintendent Patricia Saelens expressed gratitude to the commissioners for their continued support in public education.
“We are very thankful for that, unfortunately that’s not enough money to continue to do business as usual,” she said, and sought additional funding for teaching specialists in reading and math.
Providing clarifications regarding the positions, Saelens noted QACPS is eliminating 77 positions, 24 of those positions are through ceasing grant funds while the other 53 positions come right out of the district’s operating budget, she said.
On average, QACPS sees about 60 staff member yearly overturns, including retirements, resignations and maternity leave, she said.
Positions cannot be filled 100 percent through attrition because some positions must be replaced, including Spanish and chemistry teachers.
24 total teaching specialists positions in math and reading will be switched around to fill as needed.
“Nobody would lose their job, everybody would have a position, it would just be a different seat on the bus as I say,” she said.
Class sizes are expected to increase, but math specialists and reading specialists will not impact class sizes, according to Saelens.
Any additional monies by the commissioners will go directly toward preserving these math and reading teaching specialists to support teachers and struggling learners, Saelens said.
During the second public hearing at the Liberty Building in Centreville on May 22, Matapeake Elementary School teacher Sharon Burak stated cutting positions would hurt students in the short and long term run and sought the commissioners to find supplemental funding to prevent it.
With position eliminations on the horizon to make budget ends meet, Bayside Elementary School Principal Louisa Welch noted the crucial aspect of teaching specialists who work directly with students to provide necessary assistance and urged reinstating funding.
“I know that the task of handling the decision making of the county budget is monumental and is also, no doubt, a thankless task especially in budget season,” she said. Welch voiced concern for the potential of growing class size and the loss of reading and math teaching specialists.
“They are an integral part of my team at the elementary level,” she said.
Speaking on behalf of community volunteer fire fighters, William Faust, of Sudlersville Volunteer Fire Company and chair of the Queen Anne’s County Fire and EMS Commission thanked the commissioners for their support and willingness to listen and work within budget needs.
Faust noted with the rising costs in all aspects of firefighting, the $100,000 allocated to volunteer fire departments, “won’t even put a down payment on a firetruck anymore.”
Because of growing county needs, more paramedic and EMS units are necessary to assist volunteers, he said.
Queen Anne’s County Public Library Director Janice Salazar extended appreciation to the commissioners for budget allocations to ensure the library’s resources to strengthen its workforce and serve the diverse needs of the community.
Former county commissioner Steven Wilson of the Spending Affordability Committee spoke in favor of a collaborative system to ensure coordination between school administration, county administration and the finance department to ensure a more smooth communication come budget season.
The commissioners acknowledged QACPS was a Blue Ribbon school district and continuing this doing what needed to be done to continue this stellar reputation was important.
“As large of our budget as it is, we’d be crazy not to take it very seriously,” Commissioner Jack Wilson said.
Maryland legislation recently passed to require open lines of communication and financial decisions between school district and county officials, according to Wilson.
Residents were encouraged to put pressure on the state to ensure there is enough funding coming to the county and to let their voices be known to their delegates and legislators in Annapolis.
“It’s not a county issue, it’s a state issue,” Commissioner Patrick McLaughlin said.
Final budget approval is scheduled for June 11.
The complete proposed FY 2025 budget is available at the county website at https://www.qac.org/DocumentCenter/View/20061/FY25---County-Commissioners-Proposed-Budget---May-1-2024pdf.
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