(6/21) A public hearing was held in June to hear residents’ opinions on the deficit of the Town’s General Fund budget. Only one resident, and former Commissioner, Mary Ann Ennis, shared her concern about the budget being over by almost a million dollars and the subsequent transfer of funds from the Town’s savings in order to balance the deficit.
Commissioner Tom Gilbert agreed with Ennis, suggesting the Council consider how much they are willing to continue pulling out of the savings before they stop. Town Manager Sean Williams pointed out that last month was the first time the Town has moved any funds from the savings to the checking account.
Commissioner Bob Yoder was adamant that something be done about the budget deficit as soon as possible. "We can’t continue to go down the road where we are spending more than we are bringing in," he said. "Talking is not doing something about it." He outlined options he felt the Council could take to decrease the deficit which included cutting capital expenses and raising taxes.
The other Commissioners pointed out that it is too late in the year to increase the Town’s tax rate, which is currently .14 cents per $100 of assessed value. When compared to other local municipalities, Walkersville has the 16th lowest tax rate in the State out of 161 municipalities according to Commissioner Russ Winch. "For our size we are completely out of balance with everyone else," he said. He continued with a list of what comparative Frederick County municipalities tax rates are including Brunswick at .41, Emmitsburg at .34, Myersville at .34 and Middletown at .23. He said Thurmont is currently at .23 cents, but is planning on lowering their rates.
Gilbert pointed out that if the Town were to increase the tax rate by one penny (from .14 to .15 cents) at a later date, then they would generate around $80,000. An increase of .6 cent to .20 cents would generate almost $1.5 million, giving the Town a buffer to cover incidentals and other unexpected concerns.
In answer to the request to see where the Town could cut spending, Williams brought up the State mandated MS4 projects which include stormwater projects for Colony Village, Deerfield and Glade Towne. Although still in the design phases, the Town has been holding $500,000 in the budget "as a benchmark because we know there is a big bill coming," according to Williams. He said that the $500,000 in the budget is unlikely to be used in FY-26 and could be decreased to cut the current deficit.
Cutting spending in the Capital budgets from $200,000 to $100,000 will also greatly help reduce the deficit. Williams said the Town typically has $200,000 as a buffer in case a necessary project comes along and needs funding, however Williams said they could eliminate it. These two things would mean a $220,000 deficit instead of a $821,000 deficit.
Another suggestion by Yoder was to make cuts in the Town’s police protection portion of the budget as it is one of the biggest drains on the Town’s budget. Walkersville contracts the Town’s police protection out to Maryland State Police. At last month's meeting, the police protection budget was estimated to be around $2 million dollars. Williams told the Council that the final estimate is $1.83 million, and he recommended the Council include an additional $70,000 in funds to cover unexpected overtime charges. This would bring the total budgeted amount for the Town’s police protection to $1.9 million dollars, almost 39% of the budget.
Alternative police protection options, outlined by Winch, included using a private security company, the State Police, the sheriff or building your own company which includes having a building and staff. Winch was adamant he would not vote to build a force as it is incredibly expensive. Burgess Chad Weddle also pointed out that the Town has discussed switching its police protection multiple times during public hearings and the citizens have felt the State Police are more involved with the Town and more professional.
Although the Council was not initially able to pass the vote (it failed in a vote of 2 to 3 with a deficit of $821,548), after agreeing to reduce the MS4 projects from $500,000 to $100,000, the budget passed with a vote of 4 to 1 (Yoder against) and a deficit of $421,548 which will balance after pulling funds from the Town’s savings.
Read other news articles on Walkersville
