Rising Utility Costs Prompt Nearly $932,000 Budget Adjustment For St. Mary’s Schools

LEONARDTOWN, Md. — St. Mary’s County Public Schools officials say electricity, fuel and weather-related operating costs continue to put pressure on the district’s operating costs as the district manages higher utility expenses and aging building infrastructure.

The St. Mary’s County Board of Education on Wednesday approved a $931,859 budget amendment to cover fiscal 2026 electricity and snow removal costs that exceeded budgeted amounts after receiving a presentation on long-term energy consumption trends.

The school system spent approximately $6.5 million on utilities during fiscal 2026 and budgeted nearly $7.4 million for fiscal 2027. Over the past five years, overall energy consumption increased 27.3%, while total energy costs rose 39%. Electricity costs increased 56.8% during that period, according to Director of Capital Planning Kimberly Howe.

The district is monitoring a recent electricity rate increase approved for SMECO customers, although officials said the full financial impact will not be known until August utility bills are received later this summer. Howe said another increase remains possible if market conditions persist.

“We really won’t know,” Howe said. “Around December we’ll have our first indication, and then we are constantly monitoring where we are.”

Howe told board members that forecasting utility costs has become increasingly difficult because prices are influenced by multiple factors, including weather, fuel supply, global events and aging building systems.

“The conditions that impact that consumption and the cost, they’re ever changing, and they’re hard to predict,” Howe said. “Most important is they’re highly volatile and subject to change from month to month, season to season.”

Howe said the increase in energy consumption was due in part to expanding technology in classrooms, older mechanical systems that consume more energy and newer climate control strategies designed to provide continuous humidity control.

“Our biggest portion of our consumption is our HVAC — our heating, ventilation, air conditioning,” Howe said. “It’s the hugest draw on power and gas, but also electricity.”

Howe said the district is also seeing cooling seasons extend later into the fall.

“If you look at our cooling season, we used to be done by September,” Howe said. “Now we’re into November, and we’re still running our AC portion of our HVACs at a high cost.”

District Adjusts Budget, Explores Energy Savings

Superintendent Scott Smith said prolonged periods of extreme cold and summer heat have increased energy consumption.

“We are having incredible bouts of freezing cold weather and then 100-degree days with ridiculous humidity,” Smith said. “As weather becomes more volatile, consumption becomes more impacted.”

To cover the additional costs, the approved budget amendment transfers funding from instructional salaries, substitute teacher costs, contracted instructional services, workers’ compensation and tuition reimbursement into operations. Deputy Superintendent of Fiscal and Supporting Services Tammy McCourt said lower substitute teacher spending helped make the transfer possible.

“As a result of our teachers showing up, we’re absorbing less substitute costs,” McCourt said. 

Looking ahead, Howe said the district is exploring strategies to improve energy efficiency, including adjusting building control systems for peak electricity demand, better programming for occupancy schedules, converting lighting to LED fixtures and continuing to replace aging mechanical equipment as funding becomes available. However, Howe said future utility costs remain difficult to forecast because of changing energy markets, global events and weather conditions.

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