For a spending program that totals over $232 million in the next year, there was surprisingly little controversy during Tuesday night’s second public hearing on the Fiscal Year 2012 Calvert County Budget.
It was the final hearing on the budget, which will be approved at a commissioners meeting in June. The hearing lasted only 40 minutes, the bulk of which was taken up by presentation of the budget details by county officials.
The largest share goes to education — $121,554,242 when operations, debt service and other employee costs are included — fully-funding the Board of Education budget. It amounts to 52.4 percent of all county spending.
Superintendent of Schools Jack Smith wanted to “publicly thank the county government for their support of education. It’s not a good situation we face, but if we continue to work together we will make our way through it.”
Smith told the commissioners, “What you see as you travel the county are updated schools and new schools. One of the marks of a good school system is good facilities. You are to be commended.”
He added, “It is my job to advocate for sufficient funding to operate the schools. We have significant cuts and are at flat funding. Maintaining flat funding is a very good thing for 2011.”
After education, the next highest total is $25,698,835 (11 percent of the budget) for public safety, with pensions, insurance and other benefits at $20,933,548 (9 percent).
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