Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is  Tuesday, April 21st, 2026. Welcome to the   release of the fiscal year 2027 proposed  budget presentation. As we always do,   we'll begin with the pledge of allegiance  and a moment of silent reflection. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the  United States of America and to the republic   for which it stands, one nation under God,  indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So for the last several weeks, the commissioners  along with our capable members of our department   of budget management and our administration have  worked on putting together a proposed budget.   Uh this is not the final document that's going to  come next month after uh community presentations   which are set to begin this week and a formal  public hearing as well. So just as a reminder,   there is no public comment today because  this is only a presentation. Uh so again,   what we have and are offering today is what the  commissioners are proposing for uh fiscal year   2027. And to take us through everything, I'll turn  it over to Ted and Heidi. Okay. Thank you. Yeah,   I was calculating this morning. This is the 81st  time I've done this. That was a joke. [laughter] I'm not sure how many times it's been, but it   it's been a lot. Maybe it feels 81 with us.  Feels like 81 with us. So, here we're here to   talk about the commissioner's FY27 proposed  budget and our plans for FY27 through 32.   Um, this presentation is not an attempt to cover  everything that's in the budget. Uh, we are trying   to highlight the things that are changing, the  things that are probably interesting to people.  

Uh we want to give information on actions that  the commissioners took in a larger context. And now to get a little deeper into that idea, you  know, so what are we going to cover? You know,   we want to talk about how did we get here?  um starting point for the commissioner's   deliberations was a recommended budget  that the budget office puts together   based on the current plans in place and whatever  information we have now that we didn't have a year   ago, whatever new direction we might have from  the commissioners that we didn't have a year ago.   Uh we'll talk about the commissioner  actions, the things they actually said   we want to do this thing that is  not in our current budget or plans.   Talk about some state actions and  how that affects us in Carol County.   Talk some about how things are changing from the  existing plan to the plan that's being proposed.   We'll go through some operating highlights and  some capital highlights. Because we're approaching   things in several different ways, there are  items that might come up more than one time. Only two slides and I already fell behind. Okay. Commissioner actions. Carol County Public Schools. They increased  what we're proposing to fund the school system   by $6.5 million above the $7.5 million that  was already built into the plan. Uh they added   a capital project for a modernization  or replacement to Liberty High School.  

Uh there's a number of HVAC and roof projects that  moved up in the plan uh partially as a result of   removing Sykesville Middle and Freedom  Elementary School uh addition projects   and Sykesville and Freedom is  an interesting situation. Um   the timelines for the school [snorts] systems  capital and our budget adoption don't line up   very well. So right now Sykesville  and Freedom are in the school systems   plans although there's expectation that next  time around they are going to change that. Community College Commissioners added $450,000  for a feasibility study for the college's trades,   technology, and training building. [cough] As of  this proposed budget, there is not construction   funding built into the plan yet. This is a project  that will be something approaching $200 million.   Public Library Commissioners added  $600,000 to uh support salary increases,   funding to support three additional positions,   and another capital project for a modernization  or replacement of the Eldersburg Library. Community Media Center Commissioner has added  $65,000 for a uh video series that they want to   do in cooperation with the state's attorney's  office looking at various aspects of drug use,   abuse, law enforcement, prosecution, rehab,  and everything else that goes along with that.   uh added one-time funding of  50,000 to the Kok Literacy Council.  

In the circuit court, responding  to anticipated legislation on   how courts need to be staffed, they added  three part-time and one full-time bailoff. Another significant capital project. Um, this was  already partially in our plans but has evolved   some. This will be a major reconfiguration  of courtroom number six to make it a um, can't think of the word. and what put it put us in  a position to have major jewelry trials like we do   in courtroom 10 now. Uh but also uh the state's  attorney will be vacating space that they have   in the state in the courthouse annex for the new  building that they're going to be moving into.   This also will include u redoing that space. Emergency Management Communications Commissioners  added two part-time call taker positions.   This is an interesting change. Uh we're constantly  challenged on staffing in 911 and constantly   challenged on keeping up with volume. [snorts] Uh  they're going to try these two part-time positions   that won't work the same sort of  schedules that all the other 911   people do so they can focus them on their  their peak times and days of activity. State Attorney's Office commissioners included  2.5% for a salary increase. This is beyond the   general increase that will come up a  little later and added funding for a   parallegal position to help them with the volume  of work that they're facing. Fire and EMS added   eight firefighter paramedic positions and four  lieutenant training and safety officer positions.  

these positions uh were not in the plan. So,  this is new now and part of what we're going   through with our taking on EMS. Um we're kind of  learning as we go and to some extent responding to   how things evolve. And then the public safety  training center. This is a project we've been   working on for some some years. There's a  number of pieces for it. Uh like many projects,   we've seen significant price changes. There's  an additional $5 million for this project. Volunteer Emergency Services Association  commissioners are going to create a   revolving loan for the companies to use for  buying their major equipment. You know, pumpers,   tankers, ladder trucks. These are these are  vehicles that are now costing near a million   and even over a million dollars. Um, this will  not actually show up in the budget. This will be   in our financials and if a company  takes a million dollars from this,   you will see that now we have $9 million  available. Uh then as company one pays   back their million dollars, that money will  be available for other companies to use.   Uh commissioners added $700,000 to the visa budget  in FY27, followed by an increase of $500,000 a   year to what is currently planned. So um funding  in 27 will actually be a little bit higher. Well, have to see how that works out. But the  funding in 27 is not carried straight through the   rest of the years. Oh, yeah.  And this is a good place   to um to make a comment I always try  and make when we're talking budget. Um  

county staff's EMS now, but we're still Carol  County is still heavily dependent on the volunteer   companies for uh the fire side of of things.  And there are people who sometimes think, well,   the county is funding this now. I don't need  to support my volunteer company anymore. Uh,   definitely not the case. Still important. We  encourage you to continue to support them. Public works, $7.7 million for Eldersburg area.  Road improvements were focused on the area to the   south of Route 26 and east of U Route 32  to improve traffic movements in the area.   $3.5 million for improvements to Maryland 26 Road  between Georgetown Boulevard and Homeland Drive.   This is money that we'd be giving to the state  to encourage them to fund the project and move   ahead with actual implementation and $150,000 for  the Robert Motton building. Um, this is currently   the home of Reckom Parks, was the home of the  board of elections, but also has one room and   a wall in a hallway devoted to a Robert Mo friends  of Robert Motton Museum. Uh, the commissioners   have agreed to expand that presence some and have  put $150,000 in here for making some changes. nonprofit service providers. The Ark of  Carroll County got a grant for two uh   vehicles. Uh the commissioners agreed to  provide matching funding for that grant.   Citizen services added an  administrative associate position  

and $125,000 of one-time funding for the  Carol County Veterans Independence Program. We'll be talking about this a little bit  more, but um you can already see there was a   lot of focus on capital projects this year. Uh  we used to do a lot more capital projects than   we have been in recent years and I've actually  pointed out to people the difference between   the size of the capital budget you might have  seen in 2006 versus what you would see in 2026.   Uh but we we have done a good bit more for FY27.  There's $5 million for park field restoration.   Uh [clears throat] county is heavily  dependent on volunteers maintaining our our   ball fields. [cough] U commissioners believe we  reach a point where we need to take a a big move   to restore condition to make that a little bit  easier to keep up with. Then there's $15 million   for the buildout of Crimold Park. Um, we opened  this park, I don't know, 10 15 years ago, uh, with   with plans that exceeded what we actually had in  place at the time. This is to finish that plan   and at the sports complex, a utility vehicle. Uh, commissioners added $10,000 for the Chamber  of Commerce. That's on top of the 10,000 that's   been in place. 75 500 for magic. Added an  administrative assistant a position for   workforce development. Uh had a position in place  that was being funded with federal dollars that   are running out. Uh this kind of coincided with  some other changes including uh we used to be  

in a collaborative relationship with Howard  County on workforce for development. uh that   split up a couple years ago. Uh some things  Howard County used to take care of back then   have come our way now. And uh $2,000  for the Carol County Forestry Board. In a pres commissioner added a million dollars a  year in an ongoing way. Uh this does not have to   be used for our installment purchase agreements.  We do some lump sum and some installment purchase   agreements, but this money does make it at  least possible if people are uh interested   in the IPAs for making that happen. And  then $34,000 to support uh an extension   cooperative extension educator position. This  is a um Maryland program operating in Carol   University of Maryland program operating in Carol  County that the commissioners partially fund. Commissioners included 4.5 salary increase for  commissioner employees, sheriff employees, court   employees, and state attorney employees. Um just  for people who are looking at this this number,   you know, Carol County doesn't have any step  program. So this is the complete increase   and then 4% increases are  planned for the remainder years. kind of what goes along with a lot of capital  projects is we made extent extensive use of   fund balance money left over from previous  years or to some extent that we expect to   be left over from this year. Uh 1% of budget  long-standing practice about $5 million uh   will be coming out of there but  then there's another $46 million  

that will be headed toward capital projects.  So the idea here is uh cash on projects. Talk a little bit about the state budget. We're always worried, watchful as they're going  through their budget deliberations. Uh they did   some things that affected us negatively, but  we knew these pretty early on and they were   built into our thinking. uh nothing more emerged  from the session that uh had significant impact   on us. Uh it doesn't always work out that way.  Sometimes things change along the way and even   at this point we might find ourselves uh trying to  figure out what do we have to do to address that.   So they're funding to our governmental partners.  Public schools is getting about $23 million,   $6.6 million increase. Uh just a note here  that a lot of this is tied to blueprint   implementation. Uh so it doesn't give them  as much flexibility as as you might think.   And we're going to come back  to blueprint in just a little   bit. Uh community college is getting  $15 million, an increase of $400,000.   Uh the library is getting a $2,000 increase  and the health department $100,000 increase. Now I said there were some things they did that  that hurt us. Um state runs a pension system   for schools, community college, library  and and many others. Um some years ago   they gave us part of the cost us meaning counties  part of the cost of paying teacher pensions.   that's been built into the budget now for a decade  or more. Uh last year they shifted some more of  

that cost. This year they shifted some more of  that cost again. This year another $3.5 million.   Last year for the first time they did the same  thing with community colleges. And then this   year they added another 200,000 to what we  had already taken on. And then this year they   added the library for the first time. um the the  amount $34,000 is not particularly important in   this budget, but the idea that we are now seen as  part of how they pay for this is a very big idea.   And then [clears throat] Maryland  State Department of Education,   we now get the privilege of paying for part  of the cost of private providers of prek. Um,   I've I've always struggled to understand the  state's logic on our participating in the pension   system. I struggle even more with understanding  the logic of us prime paying for private prek.   I mean, we have absolutely no role in this. That  that started last year. Was it the same amount?   No, it's it's more. And yeah, last year MSD build  the school systems for this. The school systems   objected. Um MSD reviewed the legislative language  and decided that it really belonged with us. Uh it   it increased fairly substantially. And part of our  problem looking ahead is we we have no way to uh   project where this might go. And that could  be that there are fewer students. You know,   maybe it doesn't work out, but we don't know  that it won't double the number of students

on things I struggle to understand with the  state. uh not a direct effect to this budget,   but uh interesting to think about. Uh a few  years ago, the state passed legislation saying if   the state wrongfully incarcerated  somebody and ended up having to pay them   that counties would pay half of the cost. And  and this is another one you we have no role. Um   I I don't understand the thinking other than  it's a it's a way to ease budget pressures.   And at least two counties have already had to come  up with money for this. And this is another one   we have absolutely no way to plan for for this.  I we could be facing later this year a $3 million   settlement and we get a million and a half. We  didn't know for it. We didn't plan for it. Uh it   difficult. And uh a colleague of mine in another  county brought up something I hadn't thought   about, but you may have heard that um you know  couple years ago the state took off the statute   of limitations on child abuse cases which led  to a flood of of cases. The state is potentially   liable for for billions of dollars that they  have not budgeted for. Um this has not come up.   I hope I'm not giving somebody an idea. Uh but  you know this guy said what if they take the   same logic there and say well counties you're  going to have to pay for for half of that.   I sure hope they don't do that. Uh but given past  evidence I can't say it can't happen. Whoops.   Um money coming directly to the commissioners.  So everything we talked about on the last side   is going to other people. You don't control  that money. Highway user revenue $4.2 million.   a a small decrease in current legislation. This  is set to drop off by about a third next year.  

Uh police aid uh increase of $200,000 and program  open space an increase of $700,000. This is a big   change. Now program open space is bounces around  all over the place. It can change to according   to the the pot of money that's available.  This is comes out of state transfer tax,   but the state plays around with this  money a lot and it's not clear to us why   we got this increase this year, but it's not  something I think we can count on continuing. Okay, so changes from the  current budget and current plans. Here's our proposed operating plan. And you  see revenues and expenditures, balances,   and you do see that as things stand, uh, in the  last couple years of the plan, uh, expenditures,   uh, will exceed revenues. And when I say  will, this is a plan. We don't know these   numbers for sure. There not only can be, but  there will be lots of things that are going   to happen in the next six years that we don't  know to plan for. But based on the decisions   we're making today and assumptions we're making  about the future, this is what it looks like. Now we talk about changes and this is pretty much  literally true. The day you adopt the budget,   things start to change. We we start getting  information. We learn things we didn't know.   Something we expected one way we find is going  to go another way. uh all through the year.   I we're we're collecting these changes so  that we're prepared for the next time around.   So, some things have changed and again this is  not everything. It's not even close to everything  

uh but some of the things that are more  important or more valuable to know about.   Board of Education debt service changes and  this is pretty much true every year because   every year we find that the plan changes in some  way. Uh our debt service is planned to projects   where we intend to issue debt and the timing of  when we think we will actually issue that debt.   Debt service for other county projects. Uh same  kind of thinking. Uh things change every year and   we adapt. And OPE uh other post-employment  benefits. This is retiree health care.   Uh we've reduced to match the actuarial study  and this is a fairly significant change. Uh recovery support services uh we expected  to lose a grant that we ended up not losing.   So money we had built into the plan  we were able to back away from.   Wreck and parks. This isn't a big deal but  it's always nice to get a little good news on   pricing. Yeah, we actually got a mowing contract  that came in better than we anticipated. Uh   transfer to solid waste. Solid waste, while it's  an enterprise fund under current arrangements,   can't support itself. So, every year there's  general fund dollars transferred there.   Uh we've seen some increases in the in  the tons going in which increased their   revenue and allowed us to reduce how much we  were planning to use of general fund dollars   and uh transfers to to grants. Um transit we  actually had an an error we made in fiscal year 26   that made us able to make 27 look better.  and states attorney. There was a grant and uh   there was uh a position with a benefit selection  that changed how much it was going to cost   and we we think the grant will be picking up  some costs that maybe we weren't planning on.

So capturing those things and again remembering  there's dozens of other smaller changes. Uh here's   the numbers uh in this slide. Red is good. This  means we were able to improve our position. Things that increased from the plan. So these are  things that made life harder. State cost shifts.   We just talked about that. Every one of those  was something we were not planning on means we   had to dedicate money. And and a point I didn't  make before. Now, every time the state does this,   they are taking local resources and deciding where  we're going to spend them. The commissioners are   not making these choices. They're simply  responding to a choice that the state made.   Comproller SDAT, you might remember that we now   pay 90% of the cost of running the state  department of assessments taxation.   another thing I have trouble understanding.  But um more recently we've been finding   there's also other administrative costs that  they're charging us in addition to this 90%. And there are increases in several departments.  We'll be hitting these as we move a little further   into this that are offset by decreases in  department of uh fire and EMS services.   What's happening here is in the earliest  years of starting our transition to EMS,   we were trying to capture pretty much everything  in that budget so we could see what was happening.   We've gotten to a place now where we think we  can kind of normalize how we're approaching this   to look at defense like other departments.   So there are costs that in every other department  are captured in central areas, IT, health, fleet.   Um, we're now moving things that have  been captured in defams to those budgets.  

So, you'll see drops in defams and increases  in the other budget, but they're offsetting. And for anybody who was listening, but  the camera wasn't on me, I was doing a   hand balancing thing to show those offsets.   Uh other increases from that plan,  emergency management and communications.   Every five years we have to do a hazardous  mitigation plan. Uh part of this is about   getting a consultant to help us with that. And  there are also overtime costs and um overtime   is a constant struggle. 911, sheriff, defams,  and with all of them, we continue to work to try   to get to a point where we understand overtime  that's going to happen no matter what we do and   try to budget appropriately for  it. But on the other side of it,   uh try and find ways to control overtime where  there are decisions available to be made.   Technology services Uh this is a continuing  story. We've talked about this many times before.   Uh the IT world is changing. We're  paying more and more companies basically   rent rather than buying things and it's a model  that works well for the IT companies but doesn't   work well for us. We're watching our costs  climb rapidly. Transfer to utilities. Um we have   three three um school wastewater facilities.  Utilities takes care of these, but they're  

not part of the utility system. So they're not  included in what rate payers have to to to cover.   So this is coming out of out of the general  fund. That's why there's this this transfer.   Um, but we we added a pump station  at Francis Scott Key High School. Transfer to capital. Again, this  is where we're moving cash from   the operating budget to the capital  budget to put on capital projects.   And we've already talked about some of these  and but I said more going on in the capital   than has been recent years. Eldersburg, we  mentioned Crimold, the courthouse, Hartfields.   Actually, we've mentioned all these.  So, they're all just captured here now. So, similar to the decreases, we've captured  these bigger items and the increases   here. Black is bad. There's two two spaces  that have a little bit of good in them,   but these are things that made it  more difficult to balance the budget. positions included in the budget and   all of these have also been mentioned already but  here they are captured all together in one slide.   Some operating highlights if we look  at all funds when we say all funds   government budgeting is set up on funds  which is unlike what most people know about.   Uh most people are most familiar they think about  the operating budget which is our general fund   capital budget or capital fund. We also have  a half dozen enterprise funds with their own   sets of revenues and expenditures. Uh and there's  a series of smaller ones. You add all of those up   and we're up more than $ 160 million  between 26 and 27. Uh, a lot of that  

is about transfer to capital, almost $35 million  higher than it was in the fiscal year 26 budget.   A lot of this about capital projects, most  prominently Eldersburg, Crimold, and Library.   And it's also important to point out here that  we're talking about all funds. And remember,   I've mentioned this transfer to capital. uh when  we're moving money from the operating budget to   the capital budget to put cash on a project, it  gets counted in the operating budget because it's   in there to transfer out and it gets counted in  a capital project. So if you have $40 million   of that transfer to capital, that shows up as  $80 million in your all funds total. So it's not   as big a change as it appears. Still a big  change. the operating budget uh up $65 million. Again, much of this is about transfer to  capital. The next biggest piece would be   uh increased funding to the school  system. And remember that was $14 million. Governmental partners again, except now we're  talking about county funding to these agencies. Carol County Public Schools, $266 million,  an increase of $14 million or about 5 a.5%.   I just want to remind people of the  state side slide. State funding to the   school system is $23 million. Uh I don't  I think a lot of people don't understand   how much bigger a player we are in funding  the school system than the state is.   That service uh $16.2 2 million talked a little  bit earlier that's driven by the capital plan.   And also important to point out the state requires  this the school system to adopt debt service as a   budget item. I I I don't know why. It's your debt,  not their debt. We pay it. They don't pay it.

Then state pension shift,  public schools, $3.4 million,   an increase of 900,000. And then  here's that payment for prek. The community college, almost  $14 million, 3% increase.   Also for the college, uh continued funding for  adult basic education. And this doesn't affect the   community colleg's budget, but we have that  cost shift that does affect your budget. Library almost $13 million. Uh 11% increase this  year. Uh we also picked up that state pension   shift. Cable Regulatory Commission uh an increase  of $10,500. Uh this is one that's a little bit   misleading. Uh our funding to them comes from  part of the franchise fee that you collect.   Uh we're starting to see that decline. No  big surprise. We've been anticipating that.   Uh but this is going up and it's going up because  every year we project how much revenue we think   we're going to get and if we're wrong  then we reconcile. So this is only an   increase because of the reconciliation,  not because of the underlying revenue.   Oh, I'm I'm sorry. I said I  was on community media center.   Uh so that didn't apply to the regulatory  commission. Uh so you see down the bottom there,   uh there's actually in their base  $12,000 less than there was before. courts almost $4 million almost 10% increase.  Uh we talked about the bailiff positions that  

you added and there's also um increased uh funding  for um petty juror payments. Uh we're just going   off of you know what we've been experiencing in  recent years. Sheriff $32 million up about 7%.   Um, part of this is about overtime, part of  this is about inmate population. We've seen   an increase in the last couple years and  they're trying to budget appropriately.   Uh, state's attorney's office uh increase of about  7 and a half%. Uh, big part of that is that the   200 the 2.5% salary increase you added for  them and uh the position you added for them.   animal control basically flat. They are actually  getting a increase in the money they get to use,   but last year we had a uh a trailer that was  replaced that doesn't need to be replaced again   this year. LOSAP $700,000 that's flat. We will  be getting a new actuarial study this year. We   get this every three years. We'll see what our  position is and adjust if necessary next year.   Uh visa, we talked a little bit about this. um   a fairly significant increase. Uh it's  basically the commissioners responding to   uh their argument that they, you know, they're  pressed on their costs and you you up the budget. Nonprofit service providers as a group  uh about a 3% increase. You remember uh   each of those agencies has an assumed rate of  increase that the commissioner set some years   ago and have left in place uh varies between 2%  and 5% I believe. health department, $4.3 million.   And again, if you remember back to the state  slide, this is about the same number as the  

state puts in. You know, this is a state agency.  They operate in Carol County, but we we fund,   I think, a hair more than the state does.  Social services, 20,000. That's flat from 26.   Historical society, Union  Mills, flat funding, elections.   This is a bit of a surprise. Uh we actually saw  this go down [clears throat] a little bit. Um   we pay the entire costs of another state  agency, Department of the Board of Elections.   Uh in the last decade, we've seen this budget rise  rapidly. Um over a 10-year period, it went from   250,000 to $2.5 million. So this was a bit of a  a bit of a surprise. I I don't take this as any   long-term indication, though. conservation  of natural resources. Um, basically flat. Okay. Everything up until now has been  money going to other a uh to people you   don't control that don't report to you. Now  we're showing agencies that do report to you. emergency management, communications. Significant  increase there. We just talked about what was what   was going on there overtime, the positions that  you added and the um hazardous mitigation study.   Uh public works, a big part of this is the  transfer of some of the defense costs from   DEFMs to public works agencies. Also important in  this year are uh increased costs for electricity   and increased costs for fuel both of which  we largely handle in public works. Citizen   services a small decrease. Uh they are still  getting an increase in their operations but you  

remember there was a grant that we thought we were  going to lose but didn't that offset some of that   fire and EMS administration. And here's  the decrease I've been talking about.   Just again for anybody if you're just jumping  in now, they're not losing their ability to do   anything. We're just moving the cost from one  place to another. EMS $9 million up about 12%.   Uh this is largely about those positions  that you added. Fire services up 17%. Uh this this is remind me. I have to look back. Drawing drawing a blank on why we're seeing  that increase, but we'll get back to that. EMS billing revenue. Now remember, EMS billing   is a dedicated revenue that must  exist in its own revenue fund. Uh we   it'd be much more convenient if we could take the  revenue from there to the operating budget, but we   can't. So what we have to do is take expenditures  out of the operating budget and put them in that   revenue fund. Uh there's an increase this year of  $2.5 million, which isn't quite what it appears.   uh in these early years uh we have not stretched  to assume how much EMS billing we were going to   get so that we didn't overspend it. Uh  we found ourselves with $2.1 million   basically sitting on the side. Not 2.1  million of ongoing money but $2 million 2.1 of   of one-time money. So we're using this in the  year this year to replace some of the ambulances.   Uh this won't hap this same spending won't happen  again next year because we're not going to have it  

again next year. U there's 53 positions captured  in the EMS billing fund. And just a reminder   because we h we can only use the money for EMS  purposes. And because the picture is going to   change every year, the 53 positions this year  might be 57 positions next or 52 positions   next year. uh we'll just always need to work  to match things up in an appropriate way.   So, because you have the special revenue fund  and you have EMS funding in the general fund,   if you want to know the total  amount we're spending on EMS,   you have to add those together,  which is this $22.2 million number. Were parks uh percent increase, comproller  up almost 8%. Uh this is largely about those   SDAT administrative charges that we were  talking about. County attorney up 5%. Uh   this change is mostly about adding some  more uh le um funding for outside counsel. economic development a decrease. Um nothing is  being taken away from their operations but you   might remember in in anticipation of our role  in Shamrock Farms we had put a million dollars   in fiscal year 26 management and budget uh a  very large increase. A lot of this is about   moving workers compensation costs from defams  into the riskmanagement budget. And there's also for risk management, there's a thing called the  internal service fund. We put money into that fund   from the general fund, but then we pay out  our cost for workers compensation from there.  

In 26, we thought we were in a position we didn't  need to put money into the internal service fund.   So, we're putting money in again this year, but  you're comparing it to zero in fiscal year 26.   Uh, planning and land manage land management,  uh, pretty much flat. There was about $100,000   of one-time costs in there that don't repeat  in fiscal year 27. Technology services, uh,   this is the same story we were talking about  just a little bit earlier. and audio video. Um, there's a little bit larger. Well, no, it's  not really. This would have been the expected   increase. County commissioners $1.4 million up  8.5%. Uh, this is largely driven by the uh onetime   funding for the literacy council that you included  in the budget. uh not in Carol small increase   human resources uh this change is largely about  consolidating our interns. We had interns budgeted   in a number of places through the organization  and brought them all together. So that that   increase is not an increased cost to the budget  but it shows up as an increase in human resources   health and fringe benefits. Just a reminder,  we budget these things at the beginning of   the year in HR, but then later in the year  they get allocated to all the budgets. Um,   a lot of this change is about moving  defense costs from defense to HR. Some more special revenue funds,  the opioid res rest resitution fund.   Uh this is just reflecting what  we're seeing coming in and a reminder  

that while there are a lot of strings on this  money uh in some ways making it difficult to use   uh we have a very nice natural match and the state  is requiring MAT u medically assisted treatment   medically assisted treatment at the detention  center which is eligible for these funds.   Uh so we have a nice match between revenue coming  in and an expenditure we have to to handle. Uh   this will not ma remain true forever. This revenue  will dry up. The costs are likely to continue.   Community reinvestment repair  fund. This is the cannabis money.   Another bone to pick with the state here.  what counties are getting out of this is   so small at it's again just hard to justify  the logic. Um but of the money we get   uh again lots of strings on how we can use  this uh we are somewhere in the process of um   asking for requests for proposals uh from agencies  that can meet the requirements of the grant   hotel rentals. Uh this is dedicated  to paying our cost for tourism. Moving to capital high level, I've been talking about the increased  focus on capital this year and you can clearly   see it here. Uh 93.5 million increase  between 26 and 27. Now, a a reminder,   unlike the operating budget, you don't really  set trend lines in capital. It's very lumpy.   Goes up one year, goes down another year. Um,  we we won't be repeating all these projects,

schools. $79 million of that money is  going to schools. You'll see HVAC projects,   uh, infrastructure renewal, the  Liberty project. You see $19 million.   That's how much in 27, but there's  more in 28 and and beyond and beyond. More schools, prek additions. This is being  driven by blueprint and the requirement to   expand prek services. As I mentioned a little  bit earlier, the private prek component of this   which we get to pay part of uh we also have  to build space that we don't have sufficient   capacity to handle all these students. While  the state participates in these projects,   uh if we weren't required to do this, that money  could have been going to funding other projects. Uh here's a few roof projects. looking at further years. Oh yes, and Freedom  Elementary School is on here and should not be. Uh   somehow that got by us, but as we mentioned  earlier, that's been removed from the plan.   But we look at 28 and beyond,  you see some more HVAC projects,   uh more of the Liberty High School  um modernization or replacement. also roof replacements. And you know, with HVAC and roof replacements,   uh the prices on on doing these  projects have have grown so much. Uh   roof projects at one time seemed relatively minor.  

Uh but now I mean we have roof projects  that can can be $10 million probably more some things not in and this is a very short  list and I should say the list could have been   a lot longer and probably the biggest thing to be  thinking about here is this idea of modernizations   or replacements of of school. There's there's a  long line of potential projects for doing this.   Uh they are not in our plan. and it's difficult  to see how we would get them into our plan.   Uh which is why you see so many HVAC and roof  projects because they're not getting done as   part of a comprehensive project. Uh but a best  program expansion for Robert Motton is not in   William Winchester Elementary which is the next  priority for modernizations is is not included. conservation and open space. I mentioned  earlier the commissioners added an ongoing   $1 million a year. U fire and EMS public safety  training center remediation. This is about the   contamin contaminated soil on that site.  Remember this is from years of using uh   fire suppression foam that had PFAS in it. Uh this  is a lot of money but what we believe is going to   be necessary to take care of that soil. And then  water quality funding. These are ongoing items and those continue throughout the plan.   Roads, we mentioned the Eldersburg improvements  and the Liberty Road improvements. We have our   ongoing pavement management which is  now in excess of $20 million a year.   And when I say pavement management for  people who might be listening who don't   know, we're just this is taking  care of the county road system.

Then there are other projects  that continue throughout the plan. There are things that are not in and not  in. I usually bring this up every year just   to remind people because I'm almost every  year somebody will come up to me and say,   "Well, if there's not enough money, you can't  fund everything. Why don't you not do projects?"   And the reality is we don't do a lot of  projects. Um doesn't get a lot of discussion   all the time unless somebody, you know, makes  a point of coming to the commissioners to say,   "We really think you need to to fund this."  Um, but our starting point isn't what people   ask for. Our starting point is the plan that  you have and where we need to move from there. Bridges, I'm not going to go through all  this, but there are always bridge projects.   Uh, most of our bridges are 80% funded  by federal funding. Uh, this is one of   the lingering concerns about changes happening at  the federal level. If at some point they decided   this is not a federal responsibility  that would be a big change for us. Wreck and parks also always a lot of wreck  and parks projects. This because we have   a dedicated source of revenue in program  open space state sharing of transfer tax.   The money is not available to be used in  any other way. So it gets used here. Um,   now this budget does have a significant  change in that idea of funding.   The $15 million for crimold and the  five million for field restoration   are not coming out of program open space. Those  are general fund dollars that commissioners   uh chose to dedicate to these purposes. Uh,  a a a significant change in our approach. some small projects at Ponty Run and then  

as you look out the other years there's  some things that happen every year but also   Lightning for Cape Horn Pavilion of Freedom  and Hashawa uh replacement of the Raptor Muse General I always like to pe remind people  here you people hear general government   well why you spend so much money on general  government uh there's a lot of things included   here including the community college uh  we have the feasibility study for the tech training trades technology and training   u but again a reminder commissioners budgeted  the feasibility study but not yet the project.   There are $2 million of systemic renovations at  the college. Um, similarly for county buildings   and then $10 million for the courthouse  project we talked about earlier. Um, some small projects, but  here again is the Eldersburg   library also shows up in general government. Uh replacing radios goes on every year.   Money for the training center we mentioned a  little bit earlier. Um wasn't always true, but   uh self-contained breathing apparatus is  now fully in the commissioner's budget. Uh some other smaller projects.  Look out through the plan. This is all things that just continue every year

and same here. These are projects we we  have every year. Some things that aren't in   at workforce development, a bathroom and an  elevator, um emergency management, communications. We are facing grow growing um  volume at the dispatch center.   You added a couple part-time positions.  There's been talk of adding other positions.   Uh we're in a place where we're  very close to not being able to   operate out of the facilities we have.  This would be another major new project. library requested two more  projects that are not in here.   Uh handful of senior center  projects that are not in the plan. Um detention centers, another  one I talk about every year.   Um today's not the day, but there  will be a day when we're going to   need to build a new detention center.  That will be another major project. Enterprise funds. Again, these are their own  funds, their own revenues and expenditures. Airport going up about 2 and a half%. Fiber  network close to flat. Firearms small increase.   Septage um almost a 10% increase. This  is about some work we we need to do   that I don't think I can adequately explain  but something to do with the electrical system

solid waste uh talked about that change in in  volume uh but even at this remember general   fund transfer remains important for this fund  even though it actually went down this year   and Looking further ahead, thinking about  capital projects, uh we're going to be taking   on a major project to develop the additional  land we own at the at the landfill now,   which will enable us to bury more, transfer less,  which will fundamentally change the financial   picture for this fund and maybe put it in a  position where it actually can support itself.   utilities uh significant increase. Uh  you recently approved rate increases   very directly connected to this. Uh this is  partially about operating costs but also in   a significant way about the the capital  costs of renewing the system over time. Here are those rates. And you know I've said this before but  probably doesn't hurt to say it again. Uh,   nobody really wants to think about water and  sewer rates. People who pay them don't want them.   The commissioners aren't looking to increase them.  Public works doesn't want to come to you and ask   for them. The reason this happens is because  this is the revenue that will be necessary   to pay the costs that you're going to have to pay. enterprise fund capital projects. Nothing significant going on at the airport  in a current budgeting way. Of course,   we have the runway project which  is a very significant project,   but there's no action you took in  connection with that in this budget. Utilities always a lot of projects going on  and this is about, you know, that idea of  

uh renewing the infrastructure. Um, some are  fairly inexpensive, some are very expensive and then looking out the future years. Um, yeah,  and a not in for solid waste. I talked about   uh repaving a road in there. uh it  didn't seem urgent and because we are   doing a master plan and thinking about  how we're going to develop it, it   uh [clears throat] didn't seem necessary to do  this road now before we figure all that out. So, starting tomorrow, there will be a series  of five meetings at our libraries. I will   bring this presentation uh to the public  to walk them through what's in what's not   to the extent that I can, you know, help  with, you know, why did we get there.   I always remind people um in many cases we're  talking about policy decisions. Uh if you have   questions, objections, uh way to go, guys. Uh  those should be directed to the commissioners.   Um, I'll look to give you information and explain,  uh, but I'm not the one who makes those decisions.   All the presentations will start at  7:00. And I'll be a nag for a moment.   I've been disappointed for years about the lack  of people who show up at these meetings. Every   now and again might get 30 or 40, but that's very  unusual. More typically get four or five or six.   And it's always frustrating when people say later,  "Why didn't I know this was in the budget?" And   say, "Well, did you come to the meeting?" I talked  about that and you know, I can't make them come.  

The public hearing that Commissioner  Vady mentioned earlier is May 6 at 7:00.   That's at the Carol Art Center. This is the  opportunity for the public to come and make   comments for or against the budget or  things in the budget. You know, each   person gets their opportunity for three minutes  to offer their comments to the commissioners.   Following that, there are two sessions  scheduled for the commissioners to consider   any changes that they might want to make to what  we just talked about. Budget adoption is scheduled   for 9:00 on May the 21st and the budget will be  available online. Do we have an anticipated date?   Hopefully the end of this week.  We hope by the end of this week. And on the idea of providing information or  where to find things, here's my email address   and my phone number. Um, send me an email, give  me a call, and we'll do what we can to help you.   Okay, so that's what we had for you,  commissioners. Um, unless there were any   questions you wanted to ask or any  comments that you wanted to make.   Ted, I just a couple. Um, on the education  piece, that's always of interest to everybody   and I think we ought to be as clear as possible in  explaining where we stand. So, right on this one,   it says increase of 6.5 million, but we already  had 7.5 in the plan. I I did mention that.   No, no, you mentioned, but I think we have to  write it. I mean, put that here only because   it truly is a bigger increase. And then we need  to say how much above maintenance of effort it is   and explain the narrative that I've been  hearing is just so misinformed about   where we stand and what we put in compared to  the state and it's been frustrating for years.  

Um it's frustrating the way they do the formula.  But you know Carol County has always been above   maintenance of effort and substantially but  I think it's nice to people are learning this   stuff every year. So you almost have to make  believe they don't know anything about it and   how much above maintenance of effort we've been  and then how many costs have been shifted over   and it's not just for the school system but  and here you're putting the the increase in   the costs that are shifted over I think it would  be nice for all of us to have the totals that have   been shifted over for the whole each year not  just the increase in the cost shift but what's   already baked in that they've already shifted so  we can say this is how much for teacher pensions   have been shifted for this year the total and for  the libraries because that is all already baked   into the budget but it's a big number and it does  not count in maintenance of effort and what I've   said and we fought this for years in the  legislature um we have no control over   any of that we don't have any control over the  plan design we have no control over the benefit   package we have no control over the things  that they're shifting um so if we could have   not just the increases of what's being shift  but the total of what's you know what I'm saying   I think it would be a more accurate number of in  perspective of what the the county as you said   with no control has been asked on each of these  agencies to um pay and I know um the governor has   complained a lot about the the federal government  shifting stuff to the states maybe appropriately   belongs there if they can control it. we're  getting stuff shifted to us that we don't have   any control over like board of elections. It's uh  early voting. How much does that cost? You know,   it's a big it all adds up. So, I just think the  more that we can really let people understand   how much the county is doing for education and  always has and been above maintenance of effort,   you know, how we got we you we fund we  the pass boards funded, you know, uh   blueprint teacher salaries earlier than most  uh counties in the state. We did it I think two   years ahead of time. Some half the counties have  not gotten there yet. We did it two years ago.  

Last board did it two years ago. So we I think  we need to tell that story of effort that we   have done. And then you know all the capital money  and the debt service on that doesn't even count.   And yet we've been very generous with um trying  to replace buildings and keep up with buildings   even though the the costs have not been equally  necessarily shared with the state. The the amount   of funding for capital projects has gone down.  Um, so I just think the more you can explain   it to every group of people and they hear it,  they'll appreciate because I I just get tired of   one statistic that we're 24th. We've been 24th for  many years. But it's not us that's not up there.   It's the state that keeps redoing the formulas  and it doesn't our population is pretty vanilla   and and we don't have all those special  little categories, you know, out out there   that they give all the extra funding for, but  we still perform very well and participate.   The county participates. I've always been  grateful for that even as a schoolboard member   of the participation of of the county and the  effort that we've done. So I just think we need to   tilt our own horn in in explaining that because  that one data point of 24 does not indicate,   you know, we're usually ninth or eighth,  you know, it varies. It's a state portion   that's low. And then all these other shifts,  again, if we could get a total of each shift,   not just the increase in the shift, but the  the whole shift for each of the uh categories,   it would show show the true amount of money that  we're dedicating to these different entities.   Any other comments from my colleagues?  Hearing none, do we have a motion to adjurnn?   So moved. We have a motion. Do we have a second?  Second. All those in favor? I. All those opposed,   we are adjourned. Thank  you, Ted. Thank you, Heidi.