(5/2024) Last month, I submitted my proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2025. The operating and capital budgets are anchored in my administration’s core values of accountability, inclusion, and sustainability. This budget reflects a huge amount of community input from my district-based listening sessions, public hearings, the Balancing Act survey, and emails. That feedback was important as I determined strategic investments that are fiscally responsible and data-driven.

For the 15th year in a row, Frederick County ranks as one of Maryland’s healthiest counties, with health factors and outcomes far exceeding the national average. Good health is no accident. It takes planning and a commitment to making healthy choices. This proposed budget delivers a healthy Frederick County. Here are some highlights:

Strong Financial Health - The proposed budget sets aside healthy reserve funds, meets our long-term pension obligations, and makes tactical investments to protect our AAA bond rating from all three rating agencies. This saves taxpayers millions of dollars that we can then invest into the community.

Education and Workforce Development - Since taking office a little over a year ago, my Administration has increased funding to Frederick County Public Schools by nearly $60 million more than required by Maintenance of Effort. Frederick County now ranks among the top five counties in Maryland for funding above MOE. We are enhancing our apprenticeship program in partnership with FCPS to provide more opportunities for high school students in County government.

Housing & Quality of Life - This budget will help Frederick County deliver the services residents need and want to maintain good health and live their best lives. A one-time infusion of resources into the Housing Initiative Fund will expand current programs, such as homebuyer downpayment assistance, deferred loans, and housing rehab programs.

We heard repeatedly from the community about the need for a surgery coordinator at Animal Control to streamline operations and enhance spay and neuter services. This position is included in the proposed budget.

Public Safety – This budget invests in the people who keep us safe – those in our Division of Fire and Rescue Services, both career and volunteer, as well as Emergency Management, the Sheriff’s Office, and the State’s Attorney’s Office. It focuses on improved service and training, as well as employee health and wellness for all our first responders.

My proposal also establishes a budget to cover high insurance deductibles for our volunteer fire and rescue companies. The FY25 budget also honors the multi-year contract commitment we made to our firefighters, and it funds new contracts for our deputies and correctional officers to include key salary and benefit enhancements.

Public Health and Human Services – This budget provides funding to assist our seniors and veterans by enhancing opportunities within the Division of Aging and Independence. It includes funding for the Division of Family Services to expand assistance to children, youth, and caregivers. The budget also provides funding and staff support for hearing and vision screenings throughout Frederick County Public Schools.

Sustainability, Infrastructure, and Transportation – The farming community asked for an additional position in our newly launched Office of Agriculture to enhance customer service, which I have included. And we are adding a CDL trainer position to Transit to better train, recruit, and retain excellent Transit drivers.

The Division of Energy and Environment is implementing our Climate and Energy Action Plan. This budget provides additional support, including project managers for the Clean Energy Program and the Power Saver Retrofits program. These investments not only help us meet our energy and climate goals, but also help generate energy savings to households living paycheck to paycheck.

Everywhere I go, I hear people talking about how important it is to invest in our aging infrastructure, especially our older school buildings. We fund new schools and additions through impact and mitigation fees that developers pay. But we can’t use those funds to address our schools that were built 40 to 50 years ago and are in need of renovations or replacements to better serve our students.

This budget puts us on a path to addressing this challenge. While most of our neighboring counties have increased their property tax rates to account for rising costs, Frederick County’s overall rate has not increased in nearly 20 years. We are proposing a property tax rate of $1.11, which will generate nearly $21.5 million in additional revenue annually and will be dedicated solely to school construction projects This proposal amounts to an increase of $15 per month for the average homeowner in the county. A majority of the County Council has committed to this change to ensure we continue to put our students first.

Government Innovation – Included in my budget is a 2% cost-of-living salary adjustment for County staff – one of the most requested items from the Balancing Act budget survey. This is in addition to a traditional merit increase. Together, this salary enhancement is on par with neighboring jurisdictions, including the City of Frederick.

Our Office of Communications and Public Engagement gets information about County functions, news, and updates to our residents. I am proposing several strategic investments in this office, including the addition of a bilingual multimedia tech and a social media specialist, as well as increased funding for translation services to ensure our County materials are more accessible.

Economic Development and Jobs – Frederick County’s economy is growing at a steadier rate than the State overall. We are focused on identifying strategies to bring high-paying, quality jobs to our community, and to support local entrepreneurs who want to start or expand here. The budget allows us to recruit more businesses and to develop strategic plans for our economic development efforts. We are almost ready to launch our Economic Opportunity Plan through our Livable Frederick office which will explore how we can better plan employment growth throughout the County.