BULLETIN: Cecil County Drafts $169 Million Budget; Schools Get Flat Funding

May 1, 2012
By

The Cecil County Commissioners have drafted a $169 million proposed budget for Fiscal 2013 that would freeze public schools funds at the current level and taps reserve funds for $3 million to provide over half of a $5.9 million increase in county spending in the new budget year.

The draft proposal was hammered out in several closed door sessions of the County Commissioners over the past few weeks. Those sessions were less contentious than last year’s budget process, according to some participants, but they were still not without some partisan sniping among board members who have been sharply divided on a wide range of issues for well over a year.

Overall, the proposed budget provides for $169,135,431 in spending for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2012, up by more than $5.9 million over the current $163,233,252. The rise amounts to a 3.6 percent increase in spending.

Revenues to support the budget would primarily come from property taxes (61 percent), followed by income taxes (28 percent), “other” revenues (8 percent) and pulling $3 million out of county “reserve” funds to pay for the remaining 2 percent.

The budget also projects “impact aid” revenues from the Hollywood Casino on Perryville will pump nearly $3.4 million into county coffers, up from $3 million in the current budget year. But much of that increase will be offset by $266,667 in payments back to Penn National Gaming, operator of the casino, under an agreement by previous commissioners to offset unreimbursed area improvements made by the casino operators prior to opening.

The budget proposal freezes the county public schools at the current level of $67,156,014. The proposed budget, although a “level funding,” actually amounts to a slight increase over the state-mandated “maintenance of effort” level, which requires the county to provide the same per-pupil funding as in the previous budget year.

The schools are projecting a 111-student decline in enrollment, which would translate into about a $485,000 cut in county funds if only “maintenance of effort” level support were provided. Level funding will allow the schools to receive that amount.

A Citizens’ Budget Advisory Committee recently recommended level funding of the schools.

Overall, education—including Cecil College—accounts for 45 percent of county spending while public safety constitutes 20 percent.

Still up in the air is the impact of a special session of the General Assembly that is expected to be convened in Annapolis in mid-May and that is expected to shift part of the costs of teacher pensions to the counties. County budget officials have been anticipating that a House version of the plan could dump over $2.4 million in costs on Cecil County in the new budget year.

[Cecil Times will be filing a more detailed report on the proposed budget later today.]

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8 Responses to BULLETIN: Cecil County Drafts $169 Million Budget; Schools Get Flat Funding

  1. Tidewater on May 1, 2012 at 7:33 am

    Unemployment in Cecil is up, so the county increases spending?

    The schools have less students, but will spend more money on trying to educate fewer pupils?

    Every single teacher will receive a pay raise and our taxes will continue to go up.

    Please tell me how this budget freezes anything.

    • Ron on May 2, 2012 at 11:53 am

      I think it would be enlightening to all who are concerned with the school budget to attend one of their budget meetings. I have attended these meetings and have witnessed Tari Moore, Robert Hodge and Alan McCarthy in the audience taking notes. I have never witnessed current Commissioners Broomell, Dunn or Mullin at one of these meetings.

      You may find it interesting that the state mandates much of what is spent by the school system. The school system itself is limited as to where it is legally allowed to cut expenses.

      Dear Tidewater, with all due respect, I would like to invite you to a Cecil County Patriots meeting this Thursday, May 3 @ 7:00p.m at the County Building. Tom Kappra will be giving a presentation on the school budget and will be available for questioning immediately after. If you are truely concerned about the school budget and would like to offer input, I will be seeing you there. Best Regards.

  2. Tidewater on May 3, 2012 at 6:36 am

    Dear Ron,

    Bin there, done that, got the t-shirt and the mug.

    With all due respect, you should stop blaming the state for our troubles and get a reality check. Why go to a meeting to be lectured to by some apologist for the system describing how the government hides the peanut?
    If the state has so much control over the local school budget then why isn’t it called the Maryland Public Schools instead of the Cecil County Public Schools?

    I’ll be happy to attend a meeting, but only when the topic is how the school system is going to cut educrat salaries across the board by 10 per cent per year over the next 10 years and tells the state of Maryland to go to hell!

    I’ll be happy to attend a meeting when the topic is how we eliminate the property tax, and excessive, wasteful spending on a failed public school system that’s sucking up most of local government spending. I’ll be happy to attend a meeting when the topic is how to stop yearly pay increases, aka step increases for educrats.

    Until topics of meetings address these concerns, I’m afraid we are just slowing down our approach to fiscal collapse.

    To solve a problem, you have to define the problem. The biggest problem with the budget is the 800 pound educrats who believe they are entitled to an ever increasing portion of a property owners income.

    With all due respect I don’t need to attend any meeting to hear why an educrat baseball coach should get a pay raise when everyone else is having to sacrifice just to pay increased taxes, fuel and food?

    • Alexis on May 3, 2012 at 8:59 am

      Tedwater, did you raise these concerns as a member of the Citizens Budget Advisory Committee? How many meetings did you attend? Do you have a sensible, coherent plan? I don’t believe that eliminating the property tax and closing the schools will fly. Pay cuts of 10% X 10 years = 0 pay. Sensible? No. You sound like one of those Occupy Movement communist/anarchists.

      • Joe on May 4, 2012 at 8:59 am

        Alexis,
        Yes it is ridiculous but your math is not correct, you would end up with 34.87% of your original pay, if you took a 10% cut for ten years and rounded to the nearest cents each year.

        • Ron Lobos on May 5, 2012 at 12:09 pm

          Joe, that would be correct if you took the 10% off of the remainder each year, however if you took the 10% off of the original salary each year, then that does leave you with a job as a volunteer.

          Ted would be good to follow the lead of Al Reasin and attend school board meetings and meetings such as those sponsored by the Cecil County Patriots to be better informed on how the budget works. A well informed person takes the time to listen to others in order to see if their own ideas are credible. Ted, there is much that I don’t agree with in the school budget, mostly state and federal mandates, but if we don’t get up off our keesters and physically participate in changes that are needed, then I’m afraid it just isn’t going to happen.

          There’s 3 kinds of people out there: those who watch things happen, those who make things happen and those who say “HEY, WHAT HAPPENED”. Don’t be part of the third group.

          • Joe on May 6, 2012 at 2:58 pm

            Ron,
            I guess you would have to go back to Tidewater Ted for a clarification of the nature of a 10% cut. I cannot believe that even Ted would expect someone to work for nothing. I am surprised by your one sentence about “A well informed person” though.

  3. Al Reasin on May 4, 2012 at 3:21 pm

    Tidewater;

    At the Patriot’s meeting, the mandates from the state and federal government were spelled out and given in a handout. I asked them to do that so that people who do not understand, like you, the scope of the partially funded and unfunded mandates would understand the limits of what can be cut. In the past 4 years 157 positions have been eliminated. That is not the case for other county organizations with their separate budgets that the county commissioners can only accept or reject; no micro managing permitted.

    I have asked that all budgets from the county have each line item identified as to whether or not it is mandated, by whom and the percentage of funding provided. The school system does a better job of this than the other organizations. The teachers salary issue was explained also. BTW, not following the state mandates would cause CC schools to lose accreditation by the state, since that question was asked last night. That would not be good for our graduates. And if teachers salaries are reduced 10% for ten years, they would be working for free. Do you?

    Attending school board meetings and presentations at the Patriot’s and other’s meeting would allow you to ask questions and “expose” the issues you believe are necessary to change the status quo. But so far you are all talk (from the basement) and no action.

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