What's in the county's next budget? Here's a look at the first draft for FY 2025
The Board of Washington County Commissioners got a look Tuesday at a first draft of the county's Fiscal Year 2025 operating budget, and at $300.9 million, it's about $19.8 million higher than the current budget.
But so are projected revenues for FY 2025.
Some of the budget increase comes from personnel costs and includes $6.9 million for salary increases and a program of salary scale realignments that was also presented Tuesday, as well as some new positions. Another $1.6 million is proposed for the last installment of a three-year program of cost of living increases for retirees.
Education makes up largest portion of General Fund budget
The largest portion of the General Fund budget, as always, will go to education. A total of $125.9 million has been allocated for Washington County Public Schools, Hagerstown Community College and the Washington County Free Library.
A total of $110.1 million is being proposed for WCPS, a $1.1 million increase from the current budget. The school system had asked for $118.7 million. After their initial budget request was submitted, school officials learned WCPS would be getting about $3 million less than anticipated in state funding.
But Superintendent David Sovine told the county commissioners last month that the school system was making its own cuts to absorb the loss, and would not ask the county for more than the $9.6 million budget boost school officials were already seeking.
Hagerstown Community College did not ask for a budget increase, and the draft released this week proposes $10.2 million for HCC. Since then, HCC has learned its state funding might also be reduced.
The budget draft proposes $5.4 million for Washington County Free Library and its branches, an increase of nearly $2 million from the current budget. That's $109,090 less than the library sought.
Washington County officials propose $73 million capital budget for next fiscal year
Public safety budget includes money for salary increases
The second highest portion, $82.5 million, is for public safety. That includes the Washington County Sheriff's Office and Emergency Services Division.
Washington County's public safety departments sought a total of $9.6 million more in the upcoming fiscal year than in the current budget; the budget draft gives them $7.1 million more.
Much of that money is for salary increases within the departments and the transfer of emergency services agencies to county control.
The law enforcement portion totals more than $47 million, about $768,370 less than Sheriff Brian Albert requested.
It covers all the sheriff's office divisions, from patrol to process servers to the staff at the Washington County Detention Center.
Emergency Services would get $32.8 million, nearly $4 million more than the current budget, but about $2.5 million less than requested. Emergency Services covers fire services, including special operations and an air unit; oversight of the Public Safety Training Center and emergency medical services.
Most of the increase reflects costs for volunteer services programs — insurance premiums, fundraising incentives, etc. — and transition of EMS employees to county staff positions, according to Emergency Services Director David Hays.
The Smithsburg and Williamsport EMS companies became part of the county system earlier this month.
Other budget items include:
Operating/capital transfers: $39 million, up from $36.2 million in FY 2024
Courts: $7.8 million, up from $7.4 million
State offices: $7.4 million, up from $6.1 million
Community organizations: $1.2 million, up from $1 million
General operations: $21.2 million, up from $17.2 million
Commission on Aging: $1.6 million, up from $1.06 million
Public Works: $2.8 million, up from $2.7 million
Engineering/Permits/Inspections: $6.2 million, up from $6.05 million
Planning and Zoning: $1.5 million, down by $4,300
Parks and Recreation: $1.9 million, up from $1.88 million
Facilities: $1.6 million, up from $1.5 million
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Where does the money come from?
The bulk of the county's income is from property and income taxes. For FY 2025, the county expects to receive $152.4 million in property taxes, according to Chief Financial Officer Kelcee Mace. That's more than $9 million above projections for this year.
Income taxes are projected to bring in another $121.3 million, which is about $4.6 million above this year's estimates. Admissions, recordation and trailer taxes are expected to bring in another $8.3 million.
Interest income is estimated to be 150% higher in FY 2025, at $4.7 million compared with $1.9 million this year.
Service fees and grants are expected to bring in $14.1 million, more than $3.6 million above this year's projections.
How are these projections made? Mace and County Administrator Michelle Gordon explained that they are based on trends and actual assessments.
Real estate revenue projections, for example, are based on actual assessed values from the state. For income taxes, Gordon said, "there is a lot of trend analysis performed.
"We need to look at the actual income base over the last three to five fiscal years to kind of see how it's been growing," she said. "We also need to look at what's impacting revenues. For those years, for example, there were a couple of years where income tax spiked because there were a lot of late filers."
Unexpected gains, such as people selling homes, can affect revenues. And the pandemic made predictions nearly impossible.
"It threw a lot of problems into our revenue projections," Gordon said. "It threw a lot of money out into the economy, people had a lot of non-wage earning income that they didn't have before."
But now forecasts are becoming more reliable, she said. Normal growth for the county's income tax is about 3% to 3.5%, she added, although it's also being affected by the number of people moving here from Frederick and Montgomery counties. She expects that to affect income tax projections for a few more years before leveling out.
One challenge the county is facing is the need to invest more in its capital budget, which pays for construction, repairs, equipment and other infrastructure needs.
Mace said she doesn't think most residents know what maintaining utility systems, roads and the like costs.
"And I don't think they realize that what it cost to put in when they were established back in the '60s and '70s is nowhere near the cost it is now to go back and replace that technology," she said.
The budget could change a bit before it is adopted. A public hearing is scheduled May 21 at the Kepler Theater at Hagerstown Community College. The commissioners will then adopt a final budget for FY 2025, which begins July 1.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: County contemplates $300 million budget for FY 2025. What to know.
