The commissioners of St. Mary’s County proposed fiscal 2025 budget includes a massive $15.2 million increase in taxes, the largest tax increase in the history of St. Mary’s County. The high costs of food, housing, fuel and utilities is stressing the budgets of all our residents. Raising taxes should be the last resort after all efforts to find savings have been exhausted. Now is the worst time to raise taxes on our residents.
More than one commissioner has placed the blame for raising taxes on the state for cutting revenues to our school system. The state has cited falling enrollment and the inefficient use of school facilities as reasons for reduced funding. The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan is credited as the reason “the state has let us down.”
If passed, the local income tax rate will be the maximum allowed under Maryland law. By maxing out the rate we lose our flexibility to raise revenues at a later date if necessary. There are substantial savings to be found and it’s the reason I voted against the tax increases.
The Blueprint is a state initiative that attempts to determine adequate funding amounts by the county to the board of education. The county has given the school board millions of dollars in funding above maintenance of effort, far exceeding the amount Blueprint recommends. The state claims the school board is not spending taxpayer dollars efficiently.
St. Mary’s public school enrollment has been falling for several years. It has lost well over 500 students since the COVID-19 crisis. Elementary schools have seen the majority of the lost enrollment and hundreds of seats are currently available. The board of education refuses to redistrict students to fill the empty seats.
They claim student enrollment will increase but the current multi-year trend does not support their claim.
The Blueprint calls for a starting teacher’s salary of $60,000 by July 1, 2026. The new contract with the teachers union starts the salary at $60,000 on July 1, 2024, two years early. That amounts to a 16.5% increase over 2023. The salary increases could be phased in over three years. A 5.5% increase on July 1, 2024, 2025 and 2026 would comply with Blueprint formula requirements. Reasonable increases every year for the next three years would be similar to county and sheriff department employee salary increases.
The Blueprint identifies St. Mary’s County with additional wealth due to rising property assessments and average salaries of its residents. The “wealth equalized” factor impacts state funding. Those impacts can be made up by the county. Projected fiscal 2024 to 2025 revenue growth is over $7 million.
The county can fund the wealth equalization formula reduction without raising income taxes. The school board can find savings by redistricting students and closing schools built almost 70 years ago. The reduction in staffing could be done through attrition and a hiring freeze.
There are hard decisions the school board needs to make that benefits all county residents and not just the school system. It’s not fair to ask taxpayers, especially seniors, the poor and those on fixed incomes to pay higher taxes when more efficient use of existing resources can make up the funding gap.
The state hasn’t let us down by implementing the Blueprint formula. Phasing in the salary increases, redistricting students to fill empty seats and closing old facilities will eliminate the need for a tax increase.
Please reach out to the commissioners and ask them to rescind this unnecessary tax increase.
Michael Hewitt, Hollywood
The writer is a Republican St. Mary’s County commissioner.
