Wicomico County's budget lowers taxes, funds Fruitland Primary work and more: The numbers

During Tuesday's legislative session of the Wicomico County Council, County Executive Julie Giordano presented the preliminary FY25 budget under review before its official adoption.

The proposed budget is set at a tax rate of 0.8739 cents for every $100 dollars of property value, with projects like the Fruitland Primary design and Detention Center renovations paid for among the list of expenses.

"This budget breaks the revenue cap, which by state law, we can do for education (funding). Based on the amount of people that came out in support of Fruitland Primary, I felt that taxpayers would agree with this. We've lowered the tax rate and broke the revenue cap," Giordano said.

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Cannon raises questions about funding for Fruitland Primary

Council President John Cannon questioned if raising funds by adjusting property taxes was the correct way to fund the Fruitland Primary project.

"We're just lowering the taxes because the accessible base has increased, but it's not lowering the taxes for the citizens of the county as much as you can," Cannon said.

The state of Maryland has identified issues with the adjusted assessments for FY25. According to the budget overview, this may impact the amount of the assessable base, which correspondingly impacts the tax rate available under the revenue cap.

Salary structure to retain employees also a key factor in budget

Other considerations included ensuring the county salary structure supports retaining and recruiting the appropriate level of staffing for county departments, and a new contract being negotiated with the Fraternal Order of Police. The budget also aimed at addressing medical costs for inmates, which continues to grow due to state law changes.

"I think the county council has their recommendations, but it's not in their purview to determine where funding sources come from. They suggested $20 million come from (savings), but our finance department didn't feel it was the most responsible thing to do," Giordano said.

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The budget accounts for increases in all department salary and benefit increases and increases to health insurance with costs to employees being potentially offset by an employee health center.

In FY23, local property taxes comprised 40% of general fund revenue for the county, 38.5% came from the local income tax, 6% came from a disparity grant, and the remaining came from a collection of smaller revenue streams. That same year, tax revenue came from $70,634,284 in income tax and $64,345,160 in real property tax.

Following a closed session, the budget will continue to be review before it will be officially approved in a future county legislative session.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Budget for Wicomico lowers taxes, funds Fruitland Primary and more