Lower Taxes, Reduced School Operating Funds in Carroll County Budget

For five months the Carroll County Commissioners have been navigating their way through the complexities of the budgeting process, and it hasn't been without controversy.

The process came to an end Tuesday with a 4-1 vote by the county's first five-commissioner board, and it includes a decrease in property taxes, reduced funding for the library system, less money for school operating budgets and a capital budget allocation reduced by $50 million. 

The board was adamant from the beginning of the process that the property tax rate would be reduced. In fact it was a campaign promise for most of the commissioners. 

Early in the process commissioners considered a 2.5-cent decrease but then changed it to 2-cents in order to put more funding toward education.

This is the first decrease in the property tax rate since FY87, according to the board. The 2-cent decrease will change the rate from $1.048 to $1.028. 

"It's time for some tax relief and we started on that road with this tax rate decrease. The tax rate has gone down as a direct result of the action of this board and doing what the people elected us to do last November," said council member Dave Roush, R-District 3.

Members of the Carroll County community spoke out several months ago when the commissioners suggested that they were going to reduce education funding in order to cut the property tax rate.

The board said it has established a new approach toward education funding. Commissioners said they will consider both operating expenses and debt service together in order to promote additional accountability and austerity in school construction projects. 

In the FY12 budget, public schools will see a $1.4 million decrease in "spendable" funding from FY11, but a $1.5 million increase in debt service funds.

In a previous interview with Patch, board President Doug Howard, R-District 5 said that the Board of Education would still see funding at $1 million above the Minimum of Effort, the minimum funding amount required by the state.

The commissioners said at the onset of the budgeting process that they wanted to work toward four primary goals: reduce the property tax rate, restrict growth of the operating budget, reduce outstanding debt and reduce the number of capital projects.

Council member Robin Bartlett-Frazier, R-District 1 voted against approving the budget, citing that she wanted to see a 5-cent property tax decrease as opposed to the 2-cent decrease.

"I think we have identified enough funds to make a 5-cent tax reduction. I'm glad we're moving in the right direction and we've done a lot of good work this session, but I will vote against this budget for that reason," Bartlett-Frazier said. 

The FY12 budget can be found on the Carroll County government website.