Funding for seniors, schools, Deaf community discussed at budget hearing
Speakers at a public hearing in Frederick County Council District 3 on Monday said funding for the Deaf community, senior services and public schools should be prioritized in the budget for fiscal year 2026.
The meeting at Waverley Elementary School was the fourth in County Executive Jessica Fitzwater's countywide budget listening tour. The fifth meeting, in Council District 1, will be on Thursday at the Middletown Branch Library.
Council Member M.C. Keegan-Ayer (D-District 3) and at-large Democratic Council Members Brad Young and Renee Knapp, were also at Monday's meeting.
Two members of the county's Senior Services Advisory Board, Sally Livingston and Mary Ann Foltz, urged officials on Monday to include money in the fiscal year 2026 budget for the Division of Aging and Independence.
Livingston said that, while funding for public schools is an important topic in budget discussions, so, too, is funding for seniors — who make up 22% of Frederick County's population and require support to age in place.
She said the Division of Aging and Independence needed funding for several initiatives, including a specialist to staff the new Service Coordination for Seniors program and the outfitting of a mobile outreach vehicle to better serve seniors in rural parts of the county.
Foltz said the county needed to start planning now for a senior population that is expected to keep growing. She said that, unlike younger people, many seniors don't have the ability to take a second job if their monthly income isn't enough.
Linda Stoltz, president of the new Maryland Deaf Community Center near the intersection of North East and Eighth streets in Frederick, said the center is currently led by an all-volunteer board.
Once it opens to the public, Stoltz explained, the center will need paid staff members to operate programs such as fitness classes and American Sign Language instruction for Deaf and hearing people alike.
Marsha Flowers, a member of the Maryland Deaf Community Center board, urged county officials to make sure there was enough money in the budget for interpreting services at public meetings and in hospital settings.
Several people at Monday's meeting also spoke in favor of funding for Frederick County Public Schools.
Emily Fairbrother, an English teacher at Brunswick High School, brought to the meeting a textbook she said was published 'long before' any of her students were born.
'We need to do better for our students,' Fairbrother said. 'Fully funding the education budget to enable the purchase and implementation of our selected, vetted textbook series will enable us as English teachers in the county to teach our students with materials created during this millennium.'
John Deni, the president of the Frederick High School Parent Teacher Student Association, said the organization is concerned with the faculty-to-student ratio at Frederick High and other schools across the county.
Deni said there are fewer course offerings, worse academic outcomes and less individualized attention for students as a result of the increased class sizes that resulted from last year's budget crunch.
Under the county charter, Fitzwater (D) must submit her proposed fiscal year 2026 budget to the County Council by April 15.
The council will then have until May 31 to adopt the budget with any desired amendments.
If a majority of the council does not reach a consensus by that date, the budget will take effect as proposed by Fitzwater.
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