County approves $147.7 million budget

Yahoo

31-05-2025

CUMBERLAND — Allegany County commissioners Thursday adopted the county's fiscal 2026 $147,717,558 operating and capital budget.
The property tax rate will not change; however 'the income tax will increase from 3.03 to 3.20 beginning Jan. 1,' county Administrator Jason Bennett said.
The budget reflects an increase of $3,649,434 in property tax revenue, and will use $3.1 million of fund balance and $2.6 million of reserved lottery proceeds to fund some capital projects, he said.
The document includes a 2% cost-of-living salary increase for employees.
It designates 25% of paper gaming revenues, after all administrative costs, to fire and rescue companies, and the remaining 75% for capital education project funding.
The county designates the Allegany County Fire & Rescue Board to determine distribution of all revenues.
According to the budget, a Maryland mandate increased the county's cost share of operating the local assessment and taxation office in the fiscal 2026 budget to 90% at a cost of $728,000.
A fiscal 2026 state disparity grant was calculated at $7,298,611, and an additional supplemental disparity grant of $815,947 'will be appropriated as an offset to the teacher pension shift,' the budget states.
'Maryland decreased the county's disparity grant by $815,947 for FY 26,' it states. 'The cost of the teacher's pension shift became part of the Board of Education's maintenance of effort calculation in FY 2017.'
The budget partially funds requests from Allegany College of Maryland, the Allegany County Health Department and the Allegany County Library System.
It funds the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, Allegheny Highlands Trail, Tourism, Arts Council, Cumberland Theatre, Cumberland Historic Cemetery Organization and the Toll House, from collections of the hotel and motel tax.
As part of the budget, commissioners adopted water and sewer rates, recommended by the Allegany County Sanitary Commission, which mean customer utility bills will increase by an average of 5.1%.
Board President Dave Caporale said via prepared statement the commissioners are 'proud to share that the FY 2026 budget includes no increase in property taxes.'
However, the county raised the income tax rate to 3.2% to qualify for more than $5.7 million in additional state disparity grant funding next year.
'This adjustment helps us secure financial stability without raising other taxes and fees in the general fund,' he said.
'To further manage costs, we've cut additional spending and eliminated 10 full-time positions,' Caporale said.
'We also extend our sincere thanks to our partner agencies — Allegany College of Maryland, Allegany County Public Schools, the health department, library system and many others — for maintaining services with no funding increases,' he said.
'These choices have not been easy, but they will protect residents from added tax burdens during this time of inflation,' Caporale said.
In other county business, commissioners:
• Awarded First Fruits Excavating of Ridgeley, West Virginia, the site-work for the Village Crossing at Campobello project for a low-base bid of $4,029,329.
• Changed the county's Purple Line to a demand-response, door-to-door, reservation-type service that will transport anyone within a half-mile of state Route 36 from Westernport to Interstate 68 at exit 34. Trips will originate in the Georges Creek region and take customers to the Cumberland area. The service will run Tuesdays and Fridays, beginning at the first reservation time in Georges Creek after 8:30 a.m.