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DENTON – A sparsely attended public hearing during a daunting budget year prompted the Caroline County Commissioners to invite citizens to come out for the next hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, at the Health and Public Services Building, 403. S. 7th Street, Denton.
Caroline County Commission President Travis Breeding, Vice President Larry Porter and Commissioner Frank Bartz presided over the 45-minute meeting, the first of two public hearings about the fiscal year 2026 budget.
“I think in my 15 years on the Board (of Commissioners) that this has probably been the hardest time that that I've seen from a budget standpoint,” Porter said. “Seems like every day we're getting hit with some more bad news.”
Porter said Caroline countians don’t seem to pay much attention to “what happens at the state level.”
“We're the three guys that you can put your hands on that you see in the Walmart and the grocery stores, and you don't want to hear, ‘Don't blame me, blame the state.” I don't think we should do that. Our job is to take the blows here and figure it out.”
Figuring it out means making some hard choices with a mostly state-imposed $2 million deficit.
“The bottom line” Breeding said, is a projected $77.6 million in revenue and $79.6 million in requests. “So we gotta find $2 million in cuts somewhere, basically.”
“This is in a time where our Board of Ed mandatory contribution is going up $1.8 million, where disparity grants that we receive from the state are going down about $200,000. The teacher pension supplement that we got is being cut in half, and we're receiving $342,000 less there.”
Other expenses the state is transferring to the county are the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation expenses and Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed income tax rebracketing, projected to cost the county $1.1 million in revenue.
Breeding gave “credit to the board (of county commissioners) prior to this board, and what this board has done in the last two years to control spending.” He also thanked the county finance office for all their hard work.
Porter voiced his appreciation for county staff as well.
“I think over the years we have done a really good job in planning for hard times,” Porter said. “I think we're in as good a shape, honestly, as we can be at this point. And there have been times over the years when it would have been easy to say, let's just spend that money. Let's just do this. Somewhere along the line, somebody was saying, ‘Wait a minute. Let's think about this.’”
“Our obligation is to provide services, but our other obligation is to make sure – and I think that the numbers will speak for themselves – our retirement benefit program is fully funded – is funded beyond what most are. We have an obligation to our retirees,” Porter said.
“I commend the commissioners before me on being conservative and preparing for this budget and future budgets, along with Danny (Fox) and the staff and all directors,” Bartz said.
“I'm here as always to answer anybody's questions,” Bartz said. Although he said he was disappointed with the turnout, he said he did “appreciate everybody that did come out.”
Those who testified included representatives of the Queen Anne- Hillsboro Volunteer Fire Company, Caroline County Public Library and the Caroline County Arts Council. Although they requested increased funding, they expressed their awareness of the constraints the commissioners faced.
“We'll evaluate everyone's testimony, all the information that we are presented, and we'll do what we think is best,” Breeding said.
For more information, visit the Caroline County government’s webpage at carolinemd.org.
