Caroline Budget Includes Funding for 82 New Students

caroline
Caroline County Commissioners begin the budget process with a $46.6M proposal.

Caroline County, Maryland began its budget process with a hearing on the budget proposal for fiscal year 2018. As described by MyEasternShoreMd.com, most of the testimony at the hearing was to show gratitude for past funding and to ask for continued support.

The same was true in the area of education funding, which makes up a large portion of every county’s budget. From MyEasternShoreMd.com,

Erin Thornton, comptroller for Caroline County Public Schools, said the Caroline County Board of Education appreciated the commissioners’ continued support for maintenance of effort funding, a state law that requires local jurisdictions fund the same amount per student as the year before.

In FY18, Caroline County’s contribution to the local school system will increase by $221,000, due to an 82-student increase in enrollment this year, to $12.9 million.

Here are a few details from the proposal:

Total Operating Budget

  • Proposed General Fund budget for FY 2018 is $46.6M, a 2.5% increase from the FY17 adopted budget.

Education Funding

  • The proposed budget meets the maintenance of effort requirement of $12,858,628.

Taxes

  • No increase or decrease in taxes, however the differential increased for the town of Denton from 6 to 7 cents.

Government Employee Salaries

  • Caroline county employees will receive a 3% salary increase under the proposal.

For more information, see Caroline County’s Proposed Operating Budget and County holds first public budget hearing, tax differential meeting.