County Commissioner Mike Hart addressed the audience at the March 24 budget hearing.
Prince Frederick, MD – After an election season where the clamor was clearly for less taxes, it was odd to hear speakers at a budget hearing speak of tax increases. While the clamor has hardly reached a fever pitch in rural, fiscally conservative Calvert County, the idea doesn’t seem to be totally off the table.
Calvert County Government staff presented its proposed budget to the county commissioners and public Tuesday, March 24 at Calvert Pines Senior Center. The proposed spending plan for fiscal year (FY) 2016 currently totals $239.1 million, $3.8 million less than the current fiscal year’s budget. The proposed plan also remains unbalanced, with a current projected deficit of $5.9 million.
County Administrator Terry Shannon pointed out that Calvert has the fifth-lowest real property tax rate in the state of Maryland. The 0.892 per $100 of assessed value has been in effect since the late 1980s. At 2.8 percent Calvert has the seventh lowest income tax rate. Shannon stated that Calvert’s prodigious residential growth during the 1980s and 1990s “enabled us to keep [county government and public school system employees’] salaries competitive.” Since the growth spurt ended and the global economy weakened during the latter part of last decade, Shannon admitted “our budgets have become more challenging.”
Adding to the fiscal angst is the State of Maryland, which has drastically cut jurisdictions’ Highway User Fee receipts and shifted the burden of funding public school teachers’ pensions to the 23 counties and Baltimore City.
Department of Finance and Budget Director Tim Hayden noted that the gloomy revenue picture has resulted in Calvert dropping a notch in the state rankings of highest-paid teachers.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Daniel Curry stated that due to further cuts by the state, school officials have had to abandon their previous plan to provide modest pay raises for system employees.
During the hearing’s public comment segment, outgoing Calvert Education Association (CEA) President Debbie Russ declared, “I am not happy to be here with no [pay] steps on the table for our hardworking teachers.” She stated the “learning” in the county’s public schools that elected officials often lavishly praise “does not just happen.” Russ told attendees that other Maryland counties, including nearby St. Mary’s and Charles, were “catching up” on previously missed pay steps. She urged the commissioners and Calvert Board of Education to “work together” to ensure Calvert’s teachers get their pay step increases.
The state cuts have been attributed to Calvert County Public Schools’ steady loss of student enrollment. Curry said school system leaders have been further challenged to balance the budget due to “skyrocketing healthcare costs.”
The superintendent stated an additional $3.9 million would be needed in order to provide CCPS employees with raises in FY 2016. The superintendent expressed confidence that some portion of the state funding for CCPS cut from Governor Larry Hogan’s original FY 2016 budget would be restored. With the potential elimination of approximately 70 jobs from CCPS’ employees ranks—including some classroom teachers—Curry said any restored state funding would be used to salvage teaching positions that otherwise would have to be cut.
Curry, who started his tenure as Calvert’s school superintendent last July, said his two previous administrative jobs were in states—West Virginia and Delaware—that give voters the responsibility to raise taxes to fund school systems. He said in his encounters with Calvert’s residents he has met many people who would approve a tax increase to provide additional funding for public schools.
One of the citizen speakers at the hearing—William Peil of Dunkirk, praised Calvert’s school system and exhorted the commissioners to raise property taxes rather than try to expand the business community. Peil, who was representing the Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community, noted that Calvert’s median household income is one of the highest in the nation. He also denounced the Dominion Cove Point Liquefied Natural Gas exportation project as being too risky. “Let’s bump those tax rates up,” said Peil. “That’s the revenue stream.”
Prior to opening the floor to the public, Commissioner Mike Hart [R – District 1] addressed the audience. At last year’s staff-proposed budget hearing, candidate Hart declared to a roomful of CCPS teachers “we won’t be here next year.” Falling on his sword, Hart admitted the fiscal fix was going to be a much more challenging task. “It has been a mission to generate income,” he said. “If we were a business we would be out of business.”
To the educators in the auditorium, Hart said, “we believe you need your funding,” later adding that “both sides need to be transparent.”
The first-year commissioner also dismissed a call last week from Board of Education Member William Phalen for the commissioners to allocate more of its fund balance to CCPS. Phalen cited the pending windfall from the Dominion project as justification for such a move. “It’s not there yet,” said Hart of the Dominion revenue increase, which isn’t anticipated to occur until 2018 at the earliest.
One teacher who addressed the hearing—Patuxent High School’s Nancy Crosby—lamented “hearing once again ‘there’s no money.’ We need new revenue streams.”
While Hayden and Curry both noted in their remarks that the county commissioners have always funded CCPS above the state-mandated maintenance of effort figure, Sunderland Elementary School first-grade teacher Dona Ostenso stated that allocation “does not allow for extra programs or extra funds.”
Following the public hearing Commissioners’ President Steve Weems [R – At Large] conceded that the possibility of a property or income tax increase could not be totally removed from the table.
The county will have a better idea in mid-April about the final state allocation for CCPS. Curry announced that the commissioners have agreed to give the BOE until April 30 to present its final FY 2016 budget.
Hayden said the commissioners would likely be making changes to the staff-recommended budget prior to the May public hearing for the board’s proposed spending plan.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com
