Fitzwater proposes $894 million budget, income tax rate hike for wealthiest

Apr. 14—Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater on Friday released a county budget proposal of $894 million that includes an income tax rate hike for residents in the top income bracket and increased investment in emergency services.

The proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 is a little over $100 million more than this year's adopted budget — a 12.8% increase. The largest allocation is for the county school system.

Under the proposal, single status filers with a taxable income over $100,000 would receive a personal income tax rate of 3.2% compared to the current rate of 2.96%

The same increase is applicable to joint filers with over $200,000 in taxable income.

Those making less than $25,000 per year, whether a single status filer or joint filer, would receive a 2.25% rate.

County residents with taxable incomes between $25,000 and $100,000 for single filers, or between $25,000 and $200,000 for joint filers, would receive a tax rate between 2.75% and 2.96%.

In an interview after the budget's release, Fitzwater said the decrease for county residents in the lowest income bracket will help working families who are unable to make ends meet.

"This targeted tax relief for the families that need it most will really make a difference for [those families] and seniors on a fixed income," Fitzwater said.

The increase, Fitzwater said, would fall in line with the state's maximum county tax rate, which 11 Maryland counties currently use.

Property tax rates would stay the same as this year at $1.06 per $100 of assessed value.

Fitzwater proposed allocating about $405 million to the Frederick County Board of Education. That's an increase of about 11% from this fiscal year, and roughly $35 million more than the law requires, but still $48 million less than what the board had requested.

"I don't want to sugarcoat it," school board Vice President Dean Rose said in an interview Friday. "It's not what we were hoping for."

Assuming the allocation doesn't change as the County Council considers Fitzwater's proposal — and assuming final state funding figures are close to what Frederick County Public Schools predicts they will be — the school board will have to trim about $48 million from its planned fiscal 2024 budget of $939 million.

"We have some hard work to do in the next few months," Rose said.

The school board's planned budget currently includes a $35 million pool for salary increases of roughly 7% to all benefited FCPS employees.

It also includes funding to accommodate for the system's ongoing growth. FCPS is the fastest growing public school system in the state by far, and it expects to add about 1,200 new students next year.

Inflationary costs account for about $24 million in the district's current spending plan, and more than $10 million is dedicated toward enhancing special education services.

Fitzwater said her allocation for the Board of Education was as much as she could responsibly provide in the budget. She said it was a yearly challenge for the executive's office to meet the school board's funding requests, though she understands the request's importance.

"It shouldn't be a surprise to folks that as an educator, investing in our students in schools is one of my top priorities," said Fitzwater, who taught music at Oakdale Elementary School for 17 years.

Fitzwater also said revenue from an income tax increase would go toward future funding for county schools and helped narrow the gap between the school board's requested funds and what her office ultimately proposed.

The budget proposal includes a 5% cost-of-living adjustment for non-union county employees and would add almost 120 new full-time positions across all county departments.

Half of those new positions are concentrated in the county's Division of Emergency Management and Division of Fire and Rescue services.

Together, those departments received more than $100 million in Fitzwater's proposal. Emergency Management received a 21.3% allocation increase compared to this year's budget and Fire and Rescue received an 18.4% increase.

Emergency Management would receive 24 new positions, mostly 911 call takers and administrative personnel.

The division would also receive $3 million in funding to renovate part of the Prospect Center Building on Himes Avenue and convert it into a new 911 call center.

Some of the funding for Emergency Management will come from an increase in 911 fees tacked onto county residents' phone bills, cellular and landline, from 75 cents per phone line to $2.25.

Fire & Rescue would receive 42 additional positions, mainly firefighters and a new medic unit.

Other allocations in the proposed budget, such as funding for a new Brunswick Senior Center and a new library in west Frederick, were partly motivated by resident comments at county budget hearings, Fitzwater said.

"We worked hard to incorporate suggestions that came from all of those listening sessions into the budget, and tried to highlight those in our budget message in the budget book," Fitzwater said. "I think that this budget represents an investment in people."

The budget allocates $1.26 million in architect and engineering funds for the Westside Library, with additional investments charted for fiscal year 2026 in the county's Capital Improvement Plan.

The Frederick County Council has until May 31, per the county charter, to approve or amend the budget. It can delete line items from all budget categories except education.

If the council does not approve a budget with at least four votes out of seven members by the end of May, Fitzwater's budget goes into effect as it was proposed.

The council will host a budget hearing at 7 p.m. on April 25 in Winchester Hall.

The budget book is available online at https://www.frederickcountymd.gov/66/Budget-Office