Public hearing budget approved on 3-2 vote

The St. Mary’s County Commissioners will take to a public hearing on April 15^th a $220 million budget that contains a more than $800,000 “hearing reserve” that could be used to address issues raised at that hearing. But as perhaps a portent of a rocky couple of months before the budget is scheduled to be approved on May 13, the approval of the recommended hearing budget was on a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Daniel Morris (R: 2^nd) and Lawrence Jarboe (R: 3^rd) voting against.

Jarboe did not attend recent budget workshops because he was recuperating from eye surgery. He wore dark glasses at the meeting on Tuesday at which the recommended budget was approved. He said he was expecting to have additional surgery on his second eye.

The budget includes use of $5.8 million of the county’s fund balance of $23.4 million as of June 30, 2013. That fund balance does not include the five-percent budget reserve required by bond rating agencies and an additional $7.5 million that has been set aside to cover contingencies from any future potential threat to the Patuxent Naval Air Station.

Of the remaining fund balance, the commissioners anticipate using almost $8 million next fiscal year, leaving a balance of just over $8 million at the end of that.

This coming year the commissioners propose use of $5 million in fund balance for non-recurring county operating costs, to pay cash for construction projects, and for Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) for county and school board employees.

The budget includes spending $1.7 to finance replacement of 35 vehicles, including 23 for the sheriff’s department (including nine that were totaled this year).

The budget represents a 5.8 percent increase in the sheriff’s budget and 4.4 percent increase for county schools.

Included in the budget are 11 new positions, exclusive of the schools’ budget; included are four new emergency communications specialists, and seven in the sheriff’s department.

It was the new employees that drew the ire of Morris in voting against the budget. He said there should have been more attention focused on the county’s drug problem. In revising his budget to reflect the commissioners’ cuts, Sheriff Tim Cameron removed a proposed new narcotics investigator.

“I think we are putting way too much emphasis on one thing over another,” Morris said.

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