Calvert County Commissioners have decided to use rainy day funds to close the county’s budget shortfall instead of tax increases, furloughs and staff decreases. As reported by Southern Maryland Newspapers Online,

The commissioners’ budget to go to public hearing May 19 will use $5.6 million of the county’s “rainy day” fund, leaving about $12 million in the fund for future use, said county administrator Terry Shannon. The commissioners made the decision to direct staff to proceed this way on the budget during an administrative function, not in a public meeting. An administrative function is the implementation of an existing law.

“The other options were going to do more harm today, while the fund balance does more harm tomorrow,” said Commissioner Mike Hart (R). Hart said he was not ready only three months into his first term to make decisions regarding furloughs, staff cuts or tax increases and that much of the budget process had already been completed when he came into office.

A previous post on Conduit Street describes the budget balancing options presented by county budget staff.

County Commissioners plan to hold a budget hearing on May 19 and adopt the FY 2016 budget on June 2.

The staff recommended budget for Calvert County can be found on the county website.