DENTON — On May 7 the Caroline County Commissioners convened to present the fiscal year 2025 budget, but the budget discussion looked at what’s to come in years ahead.
Discussions featured two prominent, long-term issues — the county’s revenue-generating landfill and the state-mandated Blueprint for Education program.
The budget overview also covered the operating budget, capital budgets, proposed tax rates and municipal real property tax differential rates.
Looking forward, Commissioner Larry Porter said The Mid-Shore II Regional Landfill will generate $420,000 a year in revenue if it stays in Caroline County.
In the late 1980s, due to new federal regulations, the counties had to close their landfills and replace them with new landfills. In response to this new regulation, Talbot, Caroline and Queen Anne’s counties engaged with MES to form a partnership where each county would take turns hosting a landfill for a 20-year term. Kent County later joined that partnership.
Caroline County is hosting the current landfill and, under the original arrangement, would be off the hook at the end of 2030 when Queen Anne’s County would take over the responsibility of host. However, the partnering counties have agreed to allow the landfill to stay in Caroline County for 12 years longer than initially planned.
Dan Fox, deputy administrator, said the county will receive a revenue increase of around $12.3 million over the duration of the extended agreement at a meeting held earlier on May 7. The counties agreed on a $3 per ton post fee until 2030. In 2031 it will rise to $6.
“Landfill is a revenue benefit to the county. Down the road, we will need this money,” Porter said.
The other topic discussed by commissioners was the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a massive educational program that includes salary increases for teachers and more funding for early education.
The commissioners are concerned about its expense to the county.
While dramatically boosting state funding for public education over a decade, the Blueprint also asks local school districts — and taxpayers — to do their part.
In a letter to Gov. Wes Moore, the Maryland Association of Counties last November listed a litany of concerns. They said the Blueprint’s cost estimates don’t take into account the bottom-line local impact of several major spending items, including construction costs for additional classrooms needed under the plan’s expansion of pre-K and the new minimum $60,000 teacher salary starting in 2026.
“It is a bad program and we have to figure out a way to pay for this,” Porter said.
Education-related expenses made up the top expenditure for Caroline County in FY 2025. The Board of Education will receive about $17.1 million if the proposed budget is approved, about $2.3 million more than last year.
Rounding out the top four expenditures are the sheriff ($5,534,994), corrections ($5,889,769) and emergency medical services ($5,563,069).
The top three revenue generators for fiscal year 2025 are property taxes ($28,704,000), income taxes ($20,200,000) and a disparity grant from the state ($4,686,791).
Though commissioners voted to maintain the same tax rates as last year, the county will bring in more revenue from property taxes in FY 2025 due to an increase in the assessed value of properties in Caroline County.
Because of this increase, the state will provide less funding to the county in its annual disparity grant.
According to the Maryland Department of Legislative Services, the disparity grant is “where the local income tax is below 75% of the statewide average. Under the program each eligible jurisdiction receives a grant that enables the per capita local income tax revenues to reach 75% of the statewide average.”
Deputy Administrator Dan Fox said that our state disparity grant is being funded at $615,525 less than last year.
“That is a state-driven formula that is based off of wealth. We changed in percentage there, which means we receive less money this year,” Fox said.
The tax differential rate was discussed for various municipalities.
Porter described the tax differential as “revenue that the county does not collect. It is not money being taken from the towns or given to the towns. It does not affect town budgets in any way. It is money that the town does not collect.”
Fox said, “The county is looking to maintain the property tax rate at 98 cents per 100 of all unincorporated areas as well as the towns that do not receive a differential,” he said.
“This year we are looking provide Denton with the same tax rate as the prior year with 92 cents- a six cents differential to get you to 92 cent county tax rate. Federalsburg will have a county tax rate of 90 cents. Greensboro will remain at 92 cents. Preston would receive and remain at 97 cents and Ridgely would be at 93 cents,” said Fox.
Commissioner Frank Bartz said they go through the budget line by line. And although there were some conversations, by and large they agreed on each item.
Two people Sue Simmons, interim director of Caroline County Arts Council and Dr. Cliff Coppersmith, President of Chesapeake College, both came up and stated how grateful they were for the county’s support.
They had scheduled an hour and a half for this meeting, but it only took around 45 minutes. One commissioner, Travis Breeding, was “under the weather” and did not attend live.
The FY 2025 budget is scheduled for potential adoption during the Commissioners of Caroline County meeting on May 28.
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