Leonardtown, MD – The St. Mary’s County fiscal year 2018 budget book has been released and is available for online viewing. The Commissioners of St. Mary’s County voted on May 16 to approve the General Fund budget at $221,324,105. The figure represents a 0.4 percent decrease over fiscal 2017. The balanced budget was adopted with a modest decrease in property tax rates. Funding for education, county departments, and elected officials, along with public safety, accounts for nearly 87 percent of the General Fund budget. The adopted budget supports the fiscal year 2018 Capital budget of $50,581,291.
The FY2018 budget highlights include …
• Real Property Tax Rate is reduced to $.8478 per $100 of assessed value (Constant Yield Rate). The decrease amounts to about $12 per household.
• Certain elderly individuals and Veterans are eligible for a 10% property tax credit for up to five years
• Income Tax Rate remains at 3% of net taxable income
• St. Mary’s County Board of Education receives a funding increase of $2,472,539 over fiscal 2017 to $102,189,940. The county’s investment supports salary increases for teachers and other school employees. State mandated Maintenance of Effort is $100,850,888 based on an increased enrollment of 192.5 students.
• The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office will realize a $1.7 million increase over fiscal 2017 to $38,575,373.
• Various increases were approved for county employees for performance-based merit increases as well as funding for other one-time costs.
‘This year’s budget proved to be challenging in every aspect,” said Commissioner Randy Guy. “We were able to provide a small tax decrease while holding the line on spending. I thank our hard working finance staff for all of their work through this year’s process.”
The full budget can be viewed here.