St. Mary’s County Commissioners unanimously approved a $227 million dollar FY 2016 budget this week, reducing property taxes and increasing funds for education. As reported by Southern Maryland Newspapers Online,

It includes pay raises for county government, library, sheriff’s office and board of education employees. Property tax rates are slightly reduced, but the rescue squad support tax will be hiked after July 1 in the Mechanicsville area.

The property tax rate after July is reduced from 85.7 cents per $100 of assessed value to 85.23 cents, which could mean a property tax bill $5 lower for a $100,000 house, but that also depends on if state assessments increase on the land, said Jeanett Cudmore, chief financial officer.

“They might not exactly see a $5 reduction,” she said, depending on individual assessments.

County funding for schools has increased by $4.1 million.

The board of education is budgeted $98,015,001 in county dollars, an increase of $4.1 million. Combined with state funding, the St. Mary’s County school system is budgeted $5.8 million more than last year.