La Plata, MD – The Charles County Commissioners passed the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 budget Tuesday, May 16, but it wasn’t without debate.
Some last-minute suggestions included a proposal by Charles County Commissioner Amanda Stewart [D – District 3] to fund a request by Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier for additional space in the court house for retiring or visiting judges.
“From what I understand, the request is for $20,000,” Stewart said. “Would that renovation be appropriate for the CIP [Capital Improvements Projects] budget?”
“Yes,” Charles County Finance Director David Eicholtz answered. “That request would be appropriate for the Capital budget. We should be able to find $20,000. We should be able to fund that.”
And while that proposal was supported overwhelmingly, Commissioners Bobby Rucci [D-District 4] (pictured above) and Debra Davis [D-District 2] tried without success to fund an extra officer for the Charles County Sheriff’s Office from the county’s “out of fund” balance.
Rucci, who lost a son to opiate abuse, became emotional during the debate.
“I hope nobody in this room has a family member on drugs,” he said, his voice quivering. “Because it is not a fun thing.
“The governor declared opiates an epidemic in this state, not just in this county,” he added. “We’re not doing something right. I don’t care where it comes from or how we get it, we’re doing something wrong if we don’t do something about it.”
“We did fund one position for the sheriff’s office already,” Commissioner Ken Robinson [D-District 1] noted. “It’s not that we wouldn’t all like to help the sheriff’s office fund another position, but the problem is, it would come with recurring costs coming out of our fund balance. That goes against our policy, and I can’t support it.”
“The most important thing in my mind is to get drugs off the street,” Rucci asserted. “I don’t care where we get it from.”
Several proposals, however, from Rucci’s first try to several more by cohort Davis failed to win over any of the other commissioners.
“I think we all agree that we need to address the problem in the county with drug use,” Stewart said, but added that the recurring cost coming out of the fund balance would concern her.
County Administrator Michael Mallinoff also advised against raiding the county’s fund balance. “That would affect your flexibility and the less flexibility you have will affect your credit rating,” Mallinoff stressed.
In the end, Davis and Rucci’s proposals went down in defeat by a 3-2 margin, including one to add money to the state’s attorney’s office to help prosecute drug cases. At the end of the vote, several members of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office in the audience made an exodus to the door.
The county did approve the general fund operating budget for FY18 at $391,452,100; the Enterprise Fund at $4,355,800; Recreation Enterprises at $2,040,700; $8,036,100 for the Landfill Enterprise Fund; the Water and Sewer Fund ($33,638,500, includes an increase in the water rate).
The Capital Budget will run $147,465,000 and the Capital Improvements Project budget came in at $509,530,000.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com