Howard County’s Proposed Budget ‘Holds the Line’ on Taxes

Howard County Executive Kittleman has presented his proposed operating budget to the County Council.

Here are a few highlights of the budget from the budget summary document.

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Howard County’s $1.58 billion proposed budget maintains tax rates while providing extra funding for education.

Total Operating Budget

  • “$1.58 billion, a 5.6 percent growth from last year’s budget. . . Excluding one-time resources (use of prior fund balance for one-time expenses), the proposed General Fund budget represents an increase of $39.3 million, or 3.7 percent over FY 2017.”

 

Education Funding

  • “This proposed budget includes a $572.2 million direct appropriation for HCPSS, $10 million higher than prior year and $2.3 million above the required Maintenance of Effort (MOE) level.”

Taxes

  • “As with the Capital Budget, this budget was carefully prepared to address our residents’ priorities and our county’s challenges while holding the line on taxes and incorporating a fiscally prudent approach.”

Government Employee Salaries

  • “This budget provides funding for a well-deserved cost of living increase and step increments for general county employees and for negotiated salary increases for employees covered by collective bargaining agreements. The budget also continues our effort to convert contingent employees who work full-time hours to full-time positions with full benefits. To date, we have converted 49 positions and the FY 2018 budget will continue that effort.”

For more information, see the entire proposed operating budget for Howard County.