When St. Mary’s County Chief Financial Officer Elaine Kramer appeared before the county commissioners on Tuesday, she was fully expecting them to formalize a recommended budget that had been hammered out last week. But the commissioners weren’t finished making changes.
At the suggestion of Commissioner Todd Morgan (R: 4th) they unanimously added one-percent to the school budget to the three-percent increase in county funding over current levels that was approved last week on a 3-2 vote. The new four-percent increase was approved unanimously. It would add about $800,000 more to proposed expenditures.
The approval was not without comment, however. Commissioner President Francis “Jack” Russell (D) said, “I am essentially not happy, but I am happy.” He had supported a three-percent increase.
Commissioner Cynthia Jones (R: 1st), said, “I am not overjoyed with it but I can live with it.”
Before the vote Commissioner Lawrence Jarboe (R: 3rd) asked School Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano if the additional $800,000 they would receive with the extra one-percent would bring them to a level that they could cover proposed employee salary increases.
Martirano said he would have to crunch the numbers, but off the top of his head he said another $300,000 would be needed to bring then up to the needed $3.5 million increase over current county funding. He did, however, thank the commissioners for adding the extra funding into the budget.
With adding the $800,000 to the Recommended Budget that will go to public hearing on April 30 at Chopticon High School, it still has a $2.1 million surplus. The commissioners unanimously agreed, for the purposes of the Recommended Budget, to set aside $500,000 as a hearing reserve and dedicate the rest to either paying cash for capital projects (Pay Go) or contributing to the trust fund for future employee health care costs (OPEB).
Jarboe and Commissioner Daniel Morris (R: 2nd) urged the rest of the board to consider using that $500,000 to reduce taxes.
The commissioners also voted to pull from the budget $50,000 in funding for the College of Southern Maryland Foundation. Jones, who made the request, said it violated the commissioners’ policy of not funding any “non-county” entity that was not funded in the current budget.
All of the decisions are preliminary because the commissioners still have another round of budget deliberations during May before finalizing the budget. &rdquo
