St. Mary’s County Commissioners Approve $13K Highway Safety Grants

LEONARDTOWN, Md. — The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office is seeking approval for two federal highway safety grants aimed at curbing speeding and impaired driving, officials told commissioners during their Feb. 24 meeting in Leonardtown.

Sheriff Steven A. Hall submitted a memorandum to the St. Mary’s County Board of Commissioners outlining plans to apply for funding under the federal fiscal year 2027 Highway Safety Grant Program.

The collaborative submission includes two project applications, one focused on speed enforcement and another targeting impaired driving. The initiatives would combine stepped-up enforcement with public awareness campaigns addressing speeding, alcohol-related offenses and other impaired driving violations.

Below are the problem statements that the Sheriff’s Office presented to the commissioners in the grant applications.

According to the memorandum dated Feb. 13, the grants are recurring and require no county funding match. The grant term would run from Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2027.

The total federal funding request is $19,500, split between two project numbers, US2783 and US2784. The funding source is tied to the state’s Highway Safety Program, administered through the Maryland State Highway Administration, with a Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance listing of 20.608.

Although the funding is included in the Sheriff’s Office FY2027 budget request, officials noted that a budget amendment will be submitted at the award stage to reduce the total budget by $6,500 and realign accounts in accordance with the final award agreement.

Grant documents indicate the projects will support overtime enforcement and outreach efforts designed to reduce crashes and improve roadway safety across the county.

Commissioners’ approval represents the first board action related to the FFY2027 Highway Safety Grant cycle.

Commissioners unanimously approved the request, with one member stating, “I move to approve the Maryland Highway Safety Grant documents for FY2027, on behalf of the Sheriff’s Office for the total amount of $13,000 and authorize the commissioner president and Sheriff’s Office staff to sign and submit the related documents electronically.”

The approval authorizes the commissioner president and Sheriff’s Office staff to execute and submit the grant documents on the county’s behalf.

You can view all the documents here.

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