Unofficial Notes from the Board of Education Mtg – March 20, 2025 – 5pm

Posted on March 31, 2025 by Kim Miller

Dorchester County School Board Budget Session

Members of the School Board Present: Dr. Jymil Thompson (Superintendent), Brandy Dawson Cumberland (District 1), Talibah Chikwendu (District 2), Christine LaMonica (District 3), Chris Wheedleton (District 5). Absent: Sherri Hubbard (District 4)

Dr. Thompson opened the meeting with a Power Point presentation update on where the current budget for the Dorchester County Public School stands.

Currently, the budget deficit is approximately $5.6 million.
Dr. Thompson talked about next steps:
- The budget cannot honor the full amount of the cost-of-living adjustment.
- The school board is in negotiations with the MD Department of Education (MD DE), MD Department of Education – Education Support Professionals (MD DE- ESP), and Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) personnel.
- Deficit amount is $3.5 million.
- Reduce 12 – 24 staff positions – do not know which positions will be cut.
Amount is $900,000 – $1.8 million.

Comments by Dr. Thompson:

Cannot afford to lose teachers with the goal of going from a 23 to 15 ranking.
The board is determined to keep class sizes small.

Comments by Support Staff:

Collecting data on teachers interested in/planning to retire.
Want to get data correct & passed on to the principals/school staff ASAP.
Getting a large grant from the state for textbooks.
There are smaller grant programs available for supplies like textbooks.

Nobody from the audience had any questions for the board.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:11 PM.

Notes taken by A Kennedy, CAN member

Dorchester County Council Meeting March 18, 2025 – Unofficial Notes

Posted on March 20, 2025 by Kim Miller

Submitted By Sharon Smith, CAN

Attendance: George Pfeffer, President; Mike Detmer, Vice President; Rob Kramer, Jr; William Nichols; Ricky Travers; Jerry Jones, County Manager; Irene Barnes, Administrative Specialist; and Charles MacLeod, Attorney were all present.

I. Invocation & Pledge of Allegiance – 6:08 pm.

II. Calls for Additions/Deletions to Agenda

III. Financial Report: General Fund Cash on Hand: $ 34,605,884

IV. Closed Session Summary §3-305(b): (1), (13) & (7) to discuss personnel matters and legal advice on several topics.

V. Consent Agenda

The Consent Agenda was approved, 5-0.

County Council Open Session Minutes – March 4, 2025
Accounts Payable Disbursement Report – Week Ending March 14, 2025
Intradepartmental Budget Transfer Request – Recreation & Parks – Public Works
Grant Submission Requests – Federal Aviation Administration – Airport
Contract Renewal – LexisNexis – Council’s Office
Grant Submission Request – FY25 Community Programming for Youth – Recreation & Parks
Letter of Support – National Trust for Historic Preservation Grant Application – Applegarth Tubman Medicine Hill Preservation and Education
Letter of Support – Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund – Mid-Shore Regional Council
Annual Housing Bond Allocation – Department of Housing & Community Development

VI. Proclamation – Endometriosis Awareness Month – March

Vice President Detmer read the proclamation, including some statistics, such as one in ten women will develop the disease for which there is no cure. Shannon Hannawald of Endo Warriors accepted the proclamation and shared her personal story.

VII. Presentation – Budget Update – Board of Education

Dr. Jymil Thompson, Superintendent of Dorchester County Schools, and Board member Chris Wheedleton provided a brief overview of the school budget. The board has decreased their projected 2026 budget deficit from $10.1M to $5.5M and hopes to obtain additional Blueprint funding from the state. The 2025 budget was $88M and the projected 2026 budget is $93M. The county schools rank 23rd out of 24 education systems in the state, behind only Baltimore City. The goal is to rank 15th in three years, and he is developing a strategic plan to achieve this.

Discussion ensued lead by Commissioner Detmer on ways to decrease the school budget deficit including the cost of sports programs and school plays. Mr. Detmer said if the county must fund the schools $5M budget deficit it would require a 15% increase in county property taxes. An idea to close one of the county’s two high schools was dismissed after a discussion of the multiple negative effects.

Commissioner Pfeffer is pursuing a waiver of some Blueprint requirements from the state. He said that the original projected cost for the county to implement the Blueprint was $26.8M by 2030, but the county has already invested $26.3 with more than $10M in costs to come in future years.

VIII. Legislative Agenda

VP Detmer introduced legislation to increase the 911 fee from $2/line/month, which was just approved on March 4, 2025 (Bill 2025-2) to $4.25. He explained that the current budget to operate the 911 center is $1.9M and with the previous fee of $1.50/line/month, $660K was raised. Increasing the line fee to $4.25 should raise $1.8M, making the center almost self-funded. The motion was approved 5-0.

IX. Action Items

Request to Advertise for Proposals – Closure Construction New Beulah Municipal Landfill Closure – Geosyntec Consultant – Landfill
Request for Approval – FFY2025-2030 Airport Capital Improvement Plan for the airport, which gets submitted to the FAA.
Grinder Pump Purchase Sole Source Request – Water & Wastewater $11,553
James G. Busick Foundation Fundraising Request – Recreation & Parks – to hang three fund-raising banners for three months.
Request to Advertise for Proposals – to convert Hurlock tennis courts to pickleball courts – Recreation & Parks
Poll Confirmations

X. Council’s Comments

VP Detmer shared that the state is considering privatizing the inspection of septic systems.
President Pfeffer announced that there is another Budget Workshop scheduled for Thursday, March 20th at 5pm in the Room 110, county office building.

XI. Public Comments

The City Manager will try to post on the county website budget slides prior to Thursday’s budget meeting.

XII. Adjournment – 7:19pm

Dorchester County Council Budget Meeting Notes – February 27, 2025

Posted on March 1, 2025 by Kim Miller

A meeting was held at 5pm to discuss the current county draft budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-2026. The county council, county manager, county government department heads, and concerned citizens were in attendance.

The draft budget was reviewed by the County Manager, Jerry Jones. Currently the draft budget is very fluid given the uncertainty of federal and state contributions and mandates. Additionally, insurance rates are unknown. County roads are being inspected given the harsh winter. Maple Elementary and the high school need repairs. These potential additional costs are being assessed.

The county council members had the following comments and concerns:

Nicholls expressed concern about the poor condition of some of the housing.
Kramer expressed concern about public safety, EMS/Sheriff operations and road conditions.
Travers commented that this is the worst budget condition he has experienced as a council member. The state is no friend to rural counties. And counties will not receive the final state budget until May or June.
Detmer and Mr. Pfeffer expressed concern about the “outrageous” mandates from the state and their ability to pay the bills.

A representative from Enterprise Vehicle Leasing gave a brief virtual presentation about the total cost of ownership of vehicles, particularly within the Sheriff’s department.

Several capital improvement requests were discussed, including:

911 logging recorder for incoming calls
Aging ambulances
Excavators for solid waste and public works
Wildlife fencing
Future replacement of the public safety facility ($30M)

Before the unexpected state mandates/cost-shifting, the county budget appeared to be balanced when taking $2.4M from reserves. However, after $5.6M in cost shifts from the state, the county appears to have a $6,214,842 deficit. This does NOT include the county school system’s potential request for county support with a projected $10M deficit.

The current revenue projection for the county is $87.7M with an expenditure projection of $93.9M.

Submitted by Sharon Smith, Cambridge Association of Neighborhoods

Get Involved in Local and State Tax Decisions

Posted on February 15, 2025 by Kim Miller

Get Involved in Local and State Tax Decisions – by Sharon Smith, CAN Board Member

As you probably know from social media, television, and local newspapers Maryland and Dorchester County are facing large deficits in funding in the upcoming year. This is certain without knowing what actions the federal government may take. Both the state and county are entering the tax planning season now.

Now is the time for all concerned taxpayers to get involved and voice your priorities for your tax dollars to your elected officials.

The impending Dorchester County budget deficit is largely the result of the state pushing expenses onto the counties, especially “The Blueprint” for education expenses, according to recent County Council comments.

The current county budget is $82M, of which $38.6M comes from property taxes – the average Maryland property tax rate is 1.02-1.07%: Dorchester County’s rate is 1.00. Another $18.M comes from income taxes – the 23 counties and Baltimore City levy local income tax as a percent of the state income tax. Rates range from 2.25% to 3.20%. Dorchester County’s rate is at 3.20%

The remainder of the funding comes from many sources – fees, licenses, permits, fines, etc., the largest of which is $6.3M in federal, state and local aid.

The single largest expense for Dorchester County is the Department of Education at $23.7M. However, the DoE is projecting a deficit of $4.8M ($88.5M – $83.7M) this year and $11.5M ($86M – $97.5M) for 2025-2026. This is according to the Board of Education work session in January 2025.

In 2024 the per pupil funding in Maryland for Pre-K through 12 averaged $19,427. In that year, Dorchester school funding was $20,104: $14,405 was state funding and $5,698 was from the county according to the Department of Legislative Services. State education funds vary greatly across counties.

What can you do?

You can attend budget meetings, read and understand the budgets and the issues, discuss the problems and opportunities with your County Councilman, contact your state senator and representatives, and the governor and comptroller. Contact information is included.

The upcoming county Budget Work Session #1 is Tuesday, 02/25/2025– Capital at 6:00 p.m.

Budget Work Session #2 is Tuesday, 03/11/2025 at 6:00 p.m. Both are in the County Office Building.

The council is asking for your input!

Contact Information

Dorchester County Council Members