Dorchester County Council Meeting May 6, 2025, Notes – Submitted by Sharon Smith, CAN
Present: George Pfeffer, President; Mike Detmer, Vice President; Rob Kramer, Jr; William Nichols; Ricky Travers; Jerry Jones, County Manager; Irene Barnes, Administrative Specialist; Miss Luzanne; Charles MacLeod, Attorney
The Dorchester County Council meeting to present the first public hearing of the 2026 proposed budget lasted almost two hours.
Several items of note were presented.
Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) Annual Visit, presented by Jack Wilson, President and Executive Director, Michael Sanderson, discussed the economic impact of the Maryland state budget crisis, especially on Dorchester County. “The arithmetic for your budget was as hard as I have ever seen.” “Dorchester doesn’t have a lot of places to go for extra revenue.” Stating that the state “passed the buck” to the counties.
Annual Meeting with Municipalities
Mayor Lajan Cephas of Cambridge thanked the county council for their service and said that the city and the county are “in this together.” She stated that last year Cambridge added $40M in real property value to the county tax roles. She recommended that the county could take a loan from its reserve funds and pause resurfacing three miles of county roads to provide the $1.1M in tax differential. Since creating a balanced budget will be a challenge for the foreseeable future, she recommended that the county create a County Tax Revenue Options Task Force to develop long term solutions. Mayor Cephas offered that she and Mayor Cephus of Hurlock would be willing participants.
Hurlock Town Manager John Avery and Church Creek Mayor Karen Tolley echoed Mayor Cephas’ sentiments.
Legislative Session
Public Hearing – Bill Number 2025-4 2025-2026 Budget & Appropriations Ordinance
Public Testimony
Frank Narr, Treasurer of CWDI – thanked the council for past support and expressed appreciation for the $72K for CWDI included in the new budget.
Robert Aron, citizen – stressed that the county is poor and citizens cannot afford higher taxes.
Sharon Smith, CAN Board Member- requested greater transparency from the council on the details of the county budget, which currently provides only summarized revenues and expenditures. Specifically, the entire budget ordinance is only 14 pages, whereas Talbot County provides 50 pages of detail, Easton 155 pages and Cambridge 117 pages. (A Public Information Act Request was submitted on May 8th to the county council to require publication of the entire budget.)
Cleveland Rippons – former mayor of Cambridge- created the current tax differential while in office, stated that the county is burdening the municipalities with higher taxes, and is doing the same “pass the buck” on expenditures as the state is doing to the counties. Asked to meet with the council.
……………… Treasurer of Deep Harbor Association- an eleven-year resident saves taxes with the Homestead Tax Credit. However, another resident of two years duration just sold as his tax bill was $6,000+. Potential buyers will go elsewhere.
Mary Ann Benson, High Street resident- objects to the elimination of the tax differential, further stating that the council wants to tax municipal citizens for services that it is not providing, and “that seems fraudulent.”
Sputty Cephas, Cambridge City Council President – raising taxes will drive people away from the county.
Council President Murphy of Hurlock-pleaded with the council to not raise taxes
Michelle Borke, a Deep Harbor resident for 1.5 years- lives here because it is affordable. If taxes go up, she will consider moving,
President Pfeffer thanked citizens for their comments and stated that council cannot make any changes to the budget until after the second hearing on the budget bill, which is next Tuesday, May 13th at 6pm.
Public Hearing – Bill Number 2025-5 Qualified Senior Citizens Tax Credit-Second Hearing
No Public comments were offered.
President Pfeffer noted that to be eligible, one must be 67+ years old, a full-time resident, maximum $200K in net worth excluding home value, maximum $60K household income, and maximum assessed value of residence $300K. The bill passed unanimously.
Introduced legislation to abandon and convey a portion of the Farm Creek Road and Toddville Boat Ramp as discussed in earlier sessions.
Introduced legislation for a tax credit for shoreline erosion.
