Thurmont reviewing proposed $4.9M general fund budget for fiscal year 2026

Yahoo

26-04-2025

Thurmont's Board of Commissioners is considering about $4.9 million in expenses in the town's general fund for fiscal year 2026 — up from about $4.7 million allocated for general fund expenses in the current operating budget.
The proposed general fund budget lists revenues for fiscal year 2026 as $5.4 million, more than $250,000 over the revenues budgeted in fiscal year 2025. That leaves a surplus of about $575,000 to use for capital expenses.
Some of the largest expenses in the proposed budget include salaries and benefits for the town's departments, information technology costs and street sanitation.
The fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. In fiscal year 2025 up until March 31, the town has spent about $4.1 million and brought in about $3.6 million in revenues, leaving the town with a deficit of about $484,000.
In the current fiscal year, Thurmont has paid certain expenses that weren't allocated funds in the approved budget. Those include Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System requirements, general fund capital and construction-in-progress costs, and capital expenses for different departments.
The Board of Commissioners reviewed the general fund revenues and expenses for the mayor and commissioners on April 15.
The board held another general fund workshop on April 17 to review departmental expenses, as well as chat with some of the divisions about their budgets.
The departments included in the general fund budget are administration, planning and zoning, economic development, the police department, crossing guard, parks and recreation, and streets.
Thurmont's proposed water and wastewater budgets are separate from the general fund budget and were reviewed by the board on April 8.
The wastewater budget lists revenues as $1.9 million and shows a surplus of about $151,989 after paying for expenses. The water budget's revenues are $1.2 million, leaving a surplus of about $292,290 after expenses.
Those budgets do not include any changes to water and sewer rates.
BUDGET DETAILS
Out of all the departments in the proposed general fund, the police department has the highest expenses, totaling just over $2 million.
The town administration and streets department have the next highest expenses, totaling about $1.4 million and about $638,000, respectively.
Most of the proposed police department budget goes toward salaries, estimated to cost about $1.2 million, up almost $100,000 from what was budgeted for fiscal year 2025.
The department employs 15 police officers, a receptionist, an office manager and a staff support administrator.
The proposed budget also allocates about $46,500 for communications; $20,000 for camera licenses and maintenance; $20,000 for equipment like mobile radios, fire extinguishers, and in-car printers; and $14,500 for uniforms.
Thurmont Police Chief David Armstrong said the police department is fully staffed, meaning it's likely that officers will have fewer overtime hours.
He said the free licensing for the town's 38 Turing cameras positioned around the town expires in fiscal year 2025, which is why there's a jump in the costs this coming fiscal year.
In the last several months, the cameras have helped the police department solve nine hit-and-run crashes, an assault, a theft, a theft ring, a destruction of property incident, a shooting and an arson event.
'I wanted to be sure that we had sufficient funds in there to continue [to use the cameras],' Armstrong said.
The town administration's proposed budget allocates $181,000 to salaries. Its highest expenses are for employee benefits, like health insurance and retirement.
The administration expects to spend about $65,000 for information technology expenses, $55,000 for engineering expenses, $40,000 for legal expenses and $34,500 for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System requirements.
One line item, 'employee relations,' had $6,000 allocated. These funds go toward things like paid lunches for employees if a supervisor wanted to take their staff out to eat as a reward.
The board debated whether to keep this line item where it is. Commissioner Bob Lookingbill said he didn't like having taxpayers' money paying for employees' lunches, while Commissioner Marty Burns said employees should be recognized for their work.
Mayor John Kinnaird suggested lowering the allocated funds to $4,000, which the board agreed to.
The board also wanted the administration to allocate $750 to the Thurmont Addiction Commission rather than the $500 that was proposed.
Under the streets department budget, $181,800 is allocated for salaries. Additionally, $179,000 for sanitation, $160,000 for tipping fees, and $58,000 for street lighting.
The smallest budgets are the planning and zoning and the crossing guard budgets. The crossing guard budget consists of about $30,600 for crossing guard salaries.
The planning and zoning budget includes about $128,000 in expenses, most of which — $108,000 — goes toward salaries. The town's Planning and Zoning Commission's stipends total $1,500.
The Board of Commissioners struck a line item stating that the commission wanted to conduct a traffic study funded by Thurmont, listed as costing $5,000.
Kinnaird suggested that the commission ask a developer to expand the traffic study it will conduct to encompass the area the commission wants examined. That way, the developer would be paying for a traffic study, not the town.