Cold
Order. Alright, we're gonna bring this
Meeting to order.
Alright, good evening everybody.
Welcome to the Queen Annes County Commissioners meeting.
This is a public meeting that is being
aired live on our local, local cable television station,
QA CTV seven.
These media broadcasts provide county citizens an
opportunity to watch and participate in scheduled public
meetings for the county commissioners.
In addition to the live audience this evening,
we are providing remote options for citizens
to watch county commissioner meetings.
Citizens may watch our meeting live on our website at
qac.org/live
or on our television channel Breeze Line channel seven
and high definition Channel 5 0 7.
We acknowledge everyone's participation
and by attending you acknowledge
that this session is both recorded and aired.
Press in public comment will be taken
and is limited to three minutes per person.
If you do care to speak,
please sign up at the information table in the lobby.
Comments longer than three minutes can be submitted in
writing for the commissioner's review as well.
We will now stand and be led in the
Pledge of Allegiance by commission.
President Jim Moran,
I pledge allegiance to flag on the
United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands,
one nation under God invis with liberty and justice for all.
Alright, again, welcome everybody.
So the purpose of our meeting this evening is
to present the county commissioners proposed FY 27 capital
and operating budgets
and then receive public comment from folks
that have signed up and don't fret if you haven't signed up,
we will call anybody that wants to sign up
or speak at the end of the meeting
after the presentation if you choose to do so.
So with that I want
to introduce our accounting
commissioners, your county commissioners.
So starting here with
commission at large President Jim Moran.
Seated next to him is our Vice President
from District one, Jack Wilson.
Sitting next to Jack is District two representative
Patrick McLaughlin.
Next to him is Phil Elle from District three
and all the way down at the end
of the table is Chris Corino from District four.
Okay, so I have a short presentation
that provides a high level overview
of the F fo I 27 proposed budget
and again, following the presentation,
we'll we'll be receiving public comments from the audience.
And again, we have the signup sheets out there
but we, we'll also take a raise of hand
for public testimony at the conclusion of the presentation.
So I see the commissioners are in the front
row so they can see as well.
Alright, so here we go
Again, I am Todd Mon, the county administrator
and again, this is the county commissioners FY 27 proposed
operations and capital budget.
So leading off our FY 27 budget is comes in at
$231 million.
That's primarily derived of income tax revenue,
which is projected to grow by about 14%
property tax revenue, which is projected to grow about 10%.
Those are over the FY 25 actuals.
We do have some new tax revenue from short term rental
permitting and tax collection for that program
that increases of over a hundred thousand dollars
in revenue next year.
As far as the tax rates,
the county commissioners have two tax rates that they set.
The first one is income tax, then as proposed
to remain the same at 3.2% for FY 27.
And the good news is the property tax rate.
The commissioners have proposed a decrease in your property
tax rate of 3 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value
and the chart on your left shows that the lion's share
of our revenue stream comes from income
and property tax at 86%.
Some highlights of the operational budget expenditures
leading off we have the Board of education
that was funded $8.7 million above the FY 26 allocation.
That is $8.90, 8.9 million
above the maintenance of effort requirements.
We've also added an additional emergency
medical systems crew.
A seventh EMS unit has been added to the, to the budget
to continue to increase
or decrease our response time
for emergency services at $1.2 million per year.
We've also included 16 new positions,
including a new bus driver for the county ride group,
a new jury commissioner for our circuit courthouse,
a communications captain
for the Department of Emergency Services.
And as I mentioned earlier, the eight positions
for the seventh EMS unit.
For our staffing, we've included funding
for employee recruitment
and retention actions, which includes a 3% cost
of living allowance and pay for performance.
And our capital plan, we have pego money
that's gonna be transferred to the capital projects account
of $4.4 million.
I wanna talk a little bit about the Board of Education
appropriations history and the forecast going forward.
As many of you know, we get funding from both the state
and the county commissioners for our public school systems.
So the first I wanted to talk about the state funds.
The state funding for fiscal year 2027 is
$45 million and change.
Unfortunately that's about three
and a half million dollars less than the original state
Kerwin funding plan for FY 27 projection.
So that adds to the deficit,
which is now at $12 million less than the original state
Kerwin funding plan allocation was projected for FY 22
through FY 27 from our state of Maryland.
The county funds for fiscal year 27 come in at
$91.4 million.
Again, that is $8.8 million
above the maintenance of effort requirement.
And this does not include teacher pension liabilities
or private daycare costs that were shifted
from the state passed down to the county.
So on average, the county has been funding above maintenance
of effort of of about $7 million per year
for the last several years.
Now this next slide shows a little graphic representation
of some of those figures.
You can see the blue line on the left hand side, that is the
the actual state funding that we are receiving from the
for the Board of Education.
The red line just above that shows where they should be,
where they projected they would be.
So you see they're falling a bit short
for their funding allocations.
The green line is the county commissioner's allocation.
You can see they are above the red dash line,
which shows they are above what the requirement is
for the maintenance of effort calculations
for public school funding.
The the other chart, the K through 12 student population,
you can see we are experiencing continued
enrollment deficits for declines.
We started back in 2017 at 7,397 students.
We peaked just before COVID at 7,500, over 7,500 students
and we've been declining ever since.
In FY 26 we have 7,115
students in our school system just
to give you perspective on funding versus our
student enrollment.
All right, this next slide shows the revenue streams
that we receive as a county government.
All of them over the past few years we've been very
conservative out of concern for tariffs
and potential federal layoffs and impacts
and other uncertainties with the federal government.
So we have been conservative with our revenue estimates.
However, we do continue to see income tax growth in excess
of state estimates.
And for next year we are estimating 105.5 million in total
revenue from income tax.
And to highlight a few other allocations on this chart just
below that, our public utility tax is expected to decline
as utility assets are continuing to decrease due
to asset depreciation.
Our recordation and transfer taxes are both increasing
primarily due to continued strong newham new home sales
and increased home values.
Our inter intergovernmental revenue are increasing due
to increased and higher 9 1 1 fee collections
and grants for police aid.
Our interest income is expected to continue to decline
as the federal government continues
to slowly lower our interest rates.
So our total revenue stream for FY 27 at the bottom
and the FY 27 commissioner budget column is
$230,000,950 880.
This graphic depiction just shows where your tax dollars go.
So 66 cents of every general fund dollar is allocated
to education and public safety.
So what does that mean? 43 cents of every dollar goes
to the public school system Board of Education.
23 cents goes to our public safety group,
which is Emergency Services Police, fire Volunteer Services
and Detention Center.
That's followed by general government at 9 cents Public
Works 7 cents Parks recreation, natural resources 3 cents
and everything else that's left outside agencies
and other departments at 15 cents just to give you
a representation of where those tax dollars are allocated.
But the takeaway here is two thirds of our operations budget
goes for education and public safety.
This is our chart we show every year.
It's the real property tax rate by county.
This is all the counties in Maryland and Baltimore City.
We are very pleased to report that we are projected
to be the absolute lowest property tax rate in the state
after the FY 27 decrease of 3 cents per hundred dollars
of assessed value and
that's Queen Anne County down there in the yellow bar
where the star is and everything goes up from there.
Well over a dollar for most of the counties
and then Baltimore City all the way to the left hand side
of the chart over $2 per hundred dollars of assessed value.
Alright, this next series
of slides shows the budget expenditures by department
and the other agencies that we fund outside agencies
and other debt service and other expenses.
I will highlight a few things on these,
but generally our departmental increases are expected
to increase by about five to 7%, mainly due
to staff salaries, health insurance and benefit increases.
So we are expecting additional
needs in the legal services group due to increasing
anticipated litigation on some high profile cases.
Budget and finance is up due
to additional accounting support
for the town of Sellersville.
We just recently acquired their water
and sewer division as part of the county system along
with increases for postage expenses for tax bills
and tax delinquency bills.
Our human resources group
expenses do include now a new peer-to-peer counseling
program for our public safety employees
and volunteer firefighters.
So a little bigger increase there.
Our public housing shows a higher increase as well
to cover the hiring of an additional employee
for ongoing maintenance services in our housing group.
This next slide includes public works
and parks and recreation.
So under the public works,
our animal services division is a bit higher
for additional kennel equipment, necessary
emergency lighting and other safety features at our animal
services shelter under the parks and recreation groups.
Some good news here, both the airport
and the golf course are lower due
to reduced general fund support needed
to balance their budgets respectively.
We recently closed on an airport loan
and we are receiving greater revenue streams from the
golfing fees at the Blue Herring Golf course.
So good news there. Okay,
these are our outside agencies leading off again the board
of Education with a 10.6% increase as mentioned.
And that's to cover the cost of mandated cost
by the Blueprint for Mails education future for primarily
for salaries for teachers.
The other agencies that we have listed here,
the state's attorney's office shows a larger incre larger
increase to cover new case management software
for their agency to increase for their increasing caseload.
Also, the Circuit court is getting an additional jury
commissioner next year with the help to help them
with their increased caseload.
The Board of Elections increases, covers the leasing
of additional polling book equipment
and our soil conservation service is lower next year due
to the reduction in their workforce by one
and a half full-time equivalents.
These are the other categories, including debt, other
and transfers and the operations budget.
The Board of Education debt is higher next year due
to the debt service for the new administration building
and roof projects at both matte elementary
and matte middle schools.
Our intergovernmental expenses are increasing due
to continued increases from for from the State
S Stat Assessment Office,
which is a state agency which we pay for now increases
to town rebates via the tax offset program
and an increase in the state pension administration fees
that we must pay.
Our general insurance is also increasing due to premiums
and the addition of the public housing authority
facilities under the county's umbrella.
And under the transfer section, the capital fund is up due
to an increase of PEGO funding support,
which is transferred over
to the FY 27 capital projects account for capital projects.
And lastly on this, I'll say that the ag transfer
is projected to decrease next year due
to a reduction in the anticipated funding support needed
for that program.
So what's changed between this fiscal year
and next fiscal year And this chart basically just shows the
revenue increase of 21.5 million
and the corresponding expenditure increase,
also a 21.5 million.
Again, the lion's share
of the revenue increase is from property taxes
and income taxes, 16000003.4 million respectively,
followed by the intergovernmental transfers at 900,000.
On the expense side,
we're allocating an additional 8.9 million to the Board
of Education and our public safety group gets $2.3 million
in addition next year
and then the transfer to capital at 3.8 million
for our capital projects account.
Okay, now we can move into the capital budget.
Some highlights here, again, leading off with the Board
of Education, we've included funding for design
of the new Centerville Middle School, HVAC,
replacements at Canard
and Centerville Elementary, a roof replacement at canard,
a repaving of all the parking
surfaces at the Cant Island High School,
additional bus replacements, furniture replacements,
and some other small projects.
Chesapeake College, we've included funding
for the Queen Edge Technical Center.
It's a multi-year project funded
by the five Midshore counties.
That project is just out now for design
and we hope to have a groundbreaking ceremony maybe about
this time next year for that project.
For our CTE programs, for our emergency services,
we've included funding for a Motorola console upgrade,
new ambulances, radio subscriber replacements,
our public safety network
and replacement of personal protective gear
and other projects for the regional hospital.
We've allocated an overall $5 million note over four years,
FY 25 through FY 28
and this year's allocation is 1.25 million towards the new
University of Maryland Medical Systems Regional Hospital.
Continuing with capital we have
for the housing authority major repairs of our units
and maintenance for Fisher Manor, Riverside Estates,
Grasonville Terrace, Terrapin Grove FoxTown,
and our scattered site housing stock.
We've included additional funding of 835,000
for the volunteer fire companies for purchase of apparatus
and facility construction.
For animal services. We've got funding for design
of a new animal services shelter
and adoption center planning
and design money at 300,000 for our Roads division.
We have funding for a new pedestrian bridge over US
53 0 1 on Kent Island.
That is a large grant funded project, 85% grant
and that's $3 million we anticipate hopefully receiving
good award on that here.
This in the next few months
for our parks department, we have funding
for the continuation of the South Island trail expansion,
capital equipment, athletic field work, major maintenance,
new field lighting for white marsh and bass neck parks.
For our recreation group, we have funding
for land acquisition and design
and contract development for a new recreation center.
Also on Kent Island at 10.5 million.
For general services and engineering, we've included funding
for renovations of the historic courthouse
and other county facilities.
And for our information technology team, we have funding
for new IT infrastructure
and other technology associated projects for cybersecurity.
Again with roads we have 5 million allocated
for systems preservations,
for asphalt overlays and capital equipment.
We have $5 million roughly
for the Southern Kent Island sewer phases three and four.
The final two phases for that Route eight sewer expansion
to include Queen Anne Colony, Kent Moore, Chesapeake State,
so all Kent Batson, neck Normans and Maneka State.
And that'll wrap that project up.
We've got a grant for $3 million to
improve the Sellersville wastewater treatment plant
to the new ENR technology.
And we have $500,000
for our next sewer extension project planned
for Marlin Farms and Dominion.
And that has another sewer extension project
to existing communities that have public health concern,
septic system failures.
This last slide shows the capital budget by funding source.
We do have a variety of different funds that we use
for our capital plan
and I'll run through those real quickly.
We've got $4.4 million in pego funding,
nearly $8 million in grant funding.
30.1 million, 30.8 million, excuse me, in bonds.
13.2 million capital fund balance.
We have 5.2 million in loans
and those are for the sewer projects that get paid back
with special benefit assessments
and other funding sources include developer actions
and special benefit assessment collections
for road projects.
Rounding out our $63.5 million capital plan
for FY 27.
Okay, so if you want to dig deeper into our
proposed FY 27 budget, everything's on our website.
I encourage you to go there.
Here's the link and you can go there
and peruse every, every number, all the agencies,
all the departments, all the detail you need
and we'd be happy to answer any questions that your leisure.
You can let us know if you have questions about anything you
see or on the budget mailers that you've received.
We've also have a handout here that has a lot
of additional information, including
what I've presented here tonight.
Some additional pie charts and the five year capital plan.
So that's available here this evening.
So if you haven't picked one of those up,
please get one on your on your way out
and we'd be happy to answer questions on that as well.
So that concludes the very brief high level presentation
of the FY 27 proposed budget.
We can now take any public comment.
So commissioners, if you wanna come on back up to the podium
or excuse me to the front desk
and we will run through the comments.
So
You wanna read the
I gave, I gave the title I saw so,
So when I call your name, just come on up to the
standing microphone and please
state your name and where you live.
First name here is, I got one. Do not cross art.
The not cross art. Did I say
that right? Alright, thank you sir.
Yes, close. My name is Benoit Cosar
and I'm on Kent Island.
And I'd like to start this evening by looking at the
the revenue side of your budget.
So you presented to us, basically, I think you mentioned it,
the lion's share comes from property tax and income tax.
And when I look at 2026,
it's about $90 million revenue stream for each.
So indeed they are, you call 'em lion's share,
I call 'em elephants.
Those are the big revenue streams.
So I'll start with property tax.
In your cover letter you highlight, you underline
that you're decreasing property tax rate for 2027
and you have showed us this chart over here with the,
the yellow bar right next
to Talbot County is queen on county.
What the chart doesn't show is
that you're comparing your 2027 proposed rate 80 cents
compared to the 2026 rates for the other counties.
And you're saying that that this will
put the county, our county,
and the lower lowest tax rate
of all 24 jurisdiction in Maryland.
But actually Talbot County is reducing their tax rate
and not from 83 to 80, which is what you're proposing,
which is a like a three and a half percent reduction.
So putting things in perspective,
when the median household price in Kent Island, I'm sorry,
in Queenan County, is about $500,000.
That represents a reduction of about $190 per household
for the median household, $190 per year.
What Talbot County did is a reduction from 80 cents
to 67 cents, which is a meaningful
reduction in median household property tax.
It calculates to about $700 a year, 700 versus the 190
that you're proposing.
So that's what I call one elephant in the room.
And there's another one and it's on the income tax.
So $90 million from property tax,
that's what I just talked about.
Now there's another $90 million from income tax.
When I compare that to our Talbot County,
you're saying in your letter
That income tax rate
of 3.2% will remain the same for next year?
Well 3.2% versus Talbot County who's at
2.4%.
I think that is a meaningful difference.
And our neighbors to the north in Cecil County,
I checked also there are 2.7%.
So at 3.2% we stand in Queenland County at the highest
of all 23 jurisdiction.
So it sounds like I have to finish.
So when voting for commissioners going forward, I want
to see a plan that reduces spending.
So we in Quinlan County can get off this list
of having the highest income tax rate of the 23 counties.
I mean, our income tax rate is just as high
as Baltimore City and I don't think
that's anything to brag about.
I don't like to give out a problem without
giving a solution.
So here's the solution I have for you commissioners,
go back to Mr.
Mon over here and tell him
to take another crack at this budget and cut spending.
So, and cut it to a point that a $700 a year savings
to the median household family can be obtained.
Talbot County is doing it. So can we.
That is what will get you reelected. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Next we have Matt Kler, department or Public Works.
Which one?
Good evening. Dr.
Matt Kler, superintendent at
Queen Anne County Public Schools.
I wanna start by just thanking the commissioners
for their continued support of our public schools
at a time when districts across Maryland are cutting
programs and eliminating positions.
We recognize just how fortunate we are in
to have commissioners supporting our public
schools in Queen Anne's County.
The proposed budget increase for our schools will allow us
to meet our contractual obligations to employees
and maintain our current programs and staffing levels.
After two very difficult years of cuts
and furloughs, that is a significant step
forward for our school system.
This also means that we are continuing
to meet our obligations under the
blueprint for Maryland's future.
For example, starting teacher salaries next year
will be $60,000.
We've increased the number
of full day pre-kindergarten seats
for our youngest learners.
We will continue to send hundreds of our students per year
to dual enrollment classes at Chesapeake College,
while also offering high quality CTE programs like our new
electrical program and our longstanding nursing program.
All of this is possible because of your generous support
and for that we are sincerely grateful.
My job as superintendent though, is
to also advocate for the school system.
I want Queen Anne County Public Schools to be more,
to be in a position to do more than just maintain.
We are currently the second highest performing school system
on the eastern shore,
and our goal is to become the highest performing in the
state with 24 7 access to technology
and cell phones at our fingertips.
We also recognize that students face challenges
and stressors in today's world
that haven't always been present, even when compared
to just a few years ago.
Our county is home to outstanding educators,
but supporting students requires more than
just classroom teachers.
In today's environment, people make the greatest impact
in the lives of our students.
Any additional funding provided
by the commissioners would go directly towards supporting
children in our schools by restoring some of the support
that were in place in previous school years.
This would include math and reading specialists
and staff trained to support the behavioral
and mental health needs of our students.
Please know this, we are grateful for where we are.
We will not make excuses, we won't stand still.
We will continue pressing forward
and giving the students of Queen Annes County the very best
education possible.
Again, I wanna thank you for your partnership
and your support of the children
and families of Queen Annes County.
I also wanna say I plan to be able to be at all of these,
but I can't tomorrow night.
I, I'm gonna be cheering on the Ken Island High School boys
lacrosse team at Stevenson University as they try
to win back Toback State Championships for the third time
and their fourth state
championship outta the past five years.
Nice go box and thank you for all your support. Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay, next we have Janet Salazar.
Good evening commissioners.
I'm Janet Salazar, the Director for the Public Libraries.
And I am also here to thank you for our funding this year.
Thank you for the continued support of the library
for the investment that you make in our staff
and our services every year.
We truly appreciate the funding included in this year's
budget, especially the additional outreach position
that is much needed.
That position will allow us
to strengthen our connections throughout the county
and expand access to library services for residents
who may not otherwise be able to get to our branches.
We are grateful that you are build
that when you are building the county budget.
You always remember our staff
and the value that they bring to the library.
So thank you very much for that.
I also wanna thank you for including the North
County branch funding.
This project represents a really important step forward
for the expanding of library access
and services to residents in
the northern part of our county.
We're currently developing a community survey
to better understand what services and resources
and programs the residents would most
value in their new space.
And we want to ensure that this branch reflects the unique
needs of that community
and becomes a welcoming, flexible resource for all ages.
And finally, if additional funding should come available,
we would ask you to consider the support
of an additional full-time makerspace
position at this branch.
As you saw in a recent library update,
our makerspace usage has grown tremendously
with unique users and unique sessions increasing
by 90% and less than one year.
This growth demonstrates both the demand
for in the impact of these services.
The Makerspace provides opportunities for creativity,
workforce development, technology, education,
and hands-on learning for residents of all ages.
An additional staff member would allow us
to better support patrons, expand programming opportunities,
and maintain equipment
and continue growing this valuable community resource
in a sustainable way.
So I thank you for our budget and thank you for listening.
Rebecca Donovan.
Good Evening. Rebecca Donovan from Chester.
I may look a little familiar to most of you.
I know we just came from the ribbon cutting
earlier this evening and I do wanna take a moment
to thank you guys for including that budget so
that we could get that renovation of Millbury Park
and allowing us to be a part of it.
That is not why I am here tonight.
However, tonight I am here to ask you all
to prioritize funding
for mental health support within our board of education.
Specifically programs focused on mental health awareness,
suicide prevention, peer support, crisis identification,
and accessible counseling resources
for students in our county.
Tonight, I'm speaking not just as a fellow grieving parent,
but also as a co-leader
of a bereaving bereaved parent support group here on the
island through grief share ministry at the Ken Island
Methodist Church is through that group that I've come
to understand how serious the youth mental health
crisis is in our county.
Recently, parents joined our group
after losing their son to suicide.
Through conversations in our share group, I learned
that four children in our county have died
by suicide this year, this school year four.
They are not statistics, they're children, classmates,
friends, sons, daughters futures.
And for every child that we do lose,
there are countless more who are silently struggling.
We cannot wait until more families are sitting in our grief
support group to recognize that intervention is needed.
Now, our schools that are in are in a unique position
to help identify warning signs
and create environments
where students feel safe asking for help.
But educators cannot do it alone without proper funding,
staffing and resources.
We need increased investment in school counselors,
mental health professionals, peer mentoring,
peer support groups, suicide awareness training
and programs that teach students how
to recognize when a friend might be struggling.
Mental health support is not an extra, it is not optional.
It's prevention, intervention and lifesaving.
I understand that budgets are difficult
and that there are a lot of things competing
for that, for that funding.
But I'm asking you tonight to view this
as an urgent investment and the lives
of the children in our county
because no parent should ever have
to plan a funeral for their child.
And no family should have
to find their way into a bereaved parent support group
because help did not come soon enough.
If there's anything we can do together
to prevent even one more family from experiencing this kind
of loss, then it's worth the investment.
And I hope that you believe that as well.
Thank you for your time, for your
leadership and your consideration.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Bridget Heen. Say that right, Bridget? Yes.
Hello, I'm Bridget. I'm from Stevensville.
When I got the budget, the first thing
that jumped off the page to me was the very first item
under county commissioners, 870,000.
I've been communicating with Phil.
I think you've also
provided some of the budget information to drill down
to understand what that number meant.
And what I learned was a little more distressing than the
$870,000.
We have five commissioners,
their salaries mandated at $25,000 a year.
There's $125,000 based on a
$250,000.
So the other's expenses.
My question is, what are those expenses?
Because as this gentleman had said, we have
to look at expenses for those who want additional funding
for very important programs, the only way we can do it is
to reduce our expenses.
The second item was for the support staff.
And it came to me saying that Stephanie, Sherry,
and Brie make a total
of $415,000 a year.
They are the executive assistant,
the administrative assistant,
and the office manager
that averages $138,000 a year.
I'd like that job if they were to get the same
benefits, which again, I don't understand what they are
because, and forgive me if I offend anyone, I assume all
of you are on Medicare.
So it's not medical benefits, is it?
So it's $26,000 in benefits
for our commissioners.
I'm looking to try
and find a way to reduce our expenses so
that we can direct the money that we do collect
to the important things.
And that's going to take some cutting of budgets,
not increasing of budgets, like the 3%
increase on that first line item.
Next we have Carl, you Savage.
Sitz. Sitz. Thank you. Yeah.
My name's Carl Sitz. I live in Grayville, Maryland.
And I want to take this opportunity to thank you the board
for allowing me to address some social issues that are
ever so present in Queen Anne County.
And I'm here to advocate for more funds for the school board
to try and get in front of these social issues.
I'm s my son was Kevin
who died on the 22nd of December.
My wife and I will never be the same from this.
And since in that in the last five months there's been,
there's been three other children that are gone.
And I'd venture to say
that those parents are never gonna be the same either.
I don't, I don't wanna make this about my family,
but I wanna make this about this community.
There's a problem here. And it's not gonna go away.
You know, you know, we may be close in age and,
and we know how we were raised
and these issues weren't, weren't as as
prevalent as they are now.
And, and we need to do something about this.
This is serious business.
I, I can't, there, there's, I I can't even describe to you
what it's like to be a dad one day
and then the next day you're not.
It's indescribable.
So I, I feel the need to be proactive.
So I sat in on a few school board meetings. I was welcomed.
I was heard
the school doesn't have what they need.
They don't have what they need
to get in front of this problem.
This, this is a social crisis amongst
the future of this, of, of our county,
our state, our country.
You know, I asked the school board
what programs are are being implemented
to get in front of this problem.
When the grief counselors show up, you're,
we're still behind the problem.
We're we're not in front of it.
And it's gonna take a lot of work and a lot of effort.
And that takes money.
You know, are the students being addressed?
I asked are are they talking about this
or is it just being, you know,
that's a shame we miss them.
That's not gonna help this.
They need to understand what mental health,
positive mental health is all about
and how to identify it with their friends.
I'm sorry, I'm gonna run over, but this, this, keep going,
Keep going.
You know, so, you know,
the other big issue is this bullying issue.
You know, are, are we, are we monitoring
how kids are treating kids?
You know, I'm not, I'm not gonna,
I'm not gonna blame this whole thing on, you know,
my son's death over that.
But that was part of it. He just didn't feel
like he could fit in.
And, and that's gotta stop. You know?
And other kids wanna speak up.
They, they do, they wanna speak up,
but they're afraid of the judgment
and the alienation if they do and where that puts them.
And so everybody turns and walks. Not everybody.
I don't know. I, I mean I wrote all this down and,
and I, I'm not gonna read this to you.
I'm gonna speak from the heart as I've been doing.
But you know, the kids need to have some tools.
They need to have some education, they need
to have some understanding.
And the parents need it too.
You know, how can, how can the kids come home
and talk to their parents?
My son didn't talk to us about this.
I, I, I asked him every how everything okay?
And everything's fine, dad, everything's fine.
All these were all these suggestions that I'm making.
I mean, I don't have any skin in the game anymore, okay?
It's about our only child, but I care about my friends
and I care about my neighbors
and I care about their children and I care about the future.
It's gonna require trained professionals.
Teachers can't do this. It's not their job.
Their job is to stick to the curriculum
and prepare the students for challenges in the workplace.
Social issues, social settings.
That's what it's all about.
You know, guidance counselors need to do this
and train professionals.
You know, it's my understanding
that average class is like 25 plus students.
How does a teacher deal with 25 15 year olds?
They don't. The ones that wanna learn are the ones
and the ones that don't, they play a part,
but you have to engage 'em.
So
I, I, I don't know.
The general consensus is not enough guidance counselors
to deal with these social issues and,
and their job is to direct children in for their future.
But now they have a new job
because there's these new issues that they're dealing with
and they really don't know how.
So what are we gonna do?
We need to bring outside help in to train this,
these guidance counselors,
specialties, whatever you want to call it.
I don't know. I'm, I'm here to, I'm here
to support my school board.
They need a little bit more money to deal with this.
This is, this is, this isn't been going on
consistently for years.
This is like you, you can't tell me that.
I mean, name another place that
four children are gone in five months.
This isn't normal. They need more help.
I give up an over class for more guidance counselors.
So that's all I have.
And I appreciate you letting me speak and going over
and I love this county.
I love my community. I love my
neighbors and my neighbor's children.
These kids are the commodity of the future.
That's what this is about.
So, you know, and,
and they, if we can start this,
they can carry it into the future and,
and just maybe there'll be a little bit more understanding.
Thank you. Thank
You.
Next we have Jesse Knight.
My name's Jesse. I'm from Ken Island Little League.
I just came here today to say thank you guys so much
for the Bats Neck project.
I brought a couple gentlemen with me.
I know the baseball and softball community has been waiting
for a long time for lights down in this area.
We need it. Some real life issues we have is,
I know your chart showed that, you know, the,
the enrollments for you know,
Kibbler school district is going down.
But I get all of them. I get the homeschool kids,
I get the private school kids and I am at the max.
So this year I had no open fields.
So those full fields were full all the time.
So I kind of wanna plant the seed.
You guys are gonna get to know me more.
I'm gonna get on your nerves.
Like I've been getting on Phil's nerves quite a bit.
Commute five hours a day.
So I watch a lot of post meetings, new meetings.
Just to comment on one of your comments a while back,
Patrick, when you made the extension cord
and light comment about the lights, some of us did do that.
I coached football in Grasonville
and some of those kids couldn't get to
the piranhas organization.
So another gentleman made Grayville community
and I used to go pick quite a few kids up
and bring them to practice.
And I had to bring Milwaukee lights
'cause we didn't have lights for those kids
to participate in a youth sport.
So like to see the property
by Mallard run get developed some more baseball fields down
in this area, we need 'em.
I know budgets are tough, you know, nobody wants
to spend money, but you know, as many data centers
and big tech and everything else going,
the more kids we can keep active at parks and
and playing sports and is a good thing.
And attending some meetings with Parks and Rec.
There were quite a few kids coming down
to our county from New York, Pennsylvania
and surrounding areas to come enjoy,
you know, where we live.
And I wanna keep it that way.
So gentlemen, again, thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you.
So Barbara Dawson.
Hi, I'm Barb Dawson.
I'm on the Parks and Rec advisory board.
I just wanted to speak on, I guess behalf of the board
or of our committee that thank you so much for support Parks
and rec and everything that they do today at Berry Park,
at the dedication ceremony.
I know it was amazing to see what parks
and Rec here can accomplish
and I just wanted to thank you for supporting them
and their budget and their needs and help them carry on.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
And Mary Sloan.
My name's Mary Sloan in Stevensville, Maryland.
I'm also the co-founder of the Jacob Sloan Foundation.
But tonight I'm here speaking as the facilitator,
the lead facilitator
of the Parents Bereaved group here on Ken Island.
It's a group that nobody, no parents
should ever have to join.
And I'm very proud of you two for speaking.
And I'm asking that the board of Education,
that there be made more funding
for the mental health programs in services in Queen S County
schools as an urgent priority.
This year alone, the community's experienced the
heartbreaking loss of fourteens to suicide.
But behind every loss is a family forever change.
Classmates struggling to understand
and a community asking if something
more could have been done.
Through our bereaved parents group,
I have seen firsthand the growing number
of families affected
by mental health struggles among our youth.
Far too many parents have needed our support
after unimaginable loss.
The need for stronger mental health resources in
our schools is critical.
Our students need greater access to counselors,
prevention programs, peer support, crisis intervention
and education that addresses the depression, anxiety,
bullying, trauma and suicide prevention.
Often schools can be the first place
where warning signs are seen.
We must ensure that they have all the tools necessary
and all the resources necessary to respond to a crisis
before it becomes another tragedy.
Investing in mental health support is not optional.
It's an es. It's is essential to protecting the wellbeing
and lives of our childrens
and families in our county alone.
Not only is it, see now I'm going off script, but that's
because this is such a heartfelt journey.
Even though my story with the loss of our son is different,
it's not from suicide.
I remember parents calling me saying,
my child's struggling in school.
Who can I get to help them?
I was in the depths of my darkest days,
yet I felt an obligation to try to find those parents
or those students' help.
We need more resources in this county to address
mental health issues for families,
for children, and for the schools.
It has to be a priority.
And our foundation, you know, we have helped
with other mental health initiatives in the county
and we continue to stand by to help where we can help too.
But I felt as a grief support counselor in our
county that it was crucial.
Keep going. That I was able to come up here not only as
a parent, I mean not only as a, you know,
running our foundation, but as a parent of child loss.
And it's something that we want no other
parents to go through.
It's something that unless you've walked that walk,
you don't understand the need that we have,
especially in this county, for more support
for these families, these children, these communities.
Thank you for your time and I appreciate all
that you all do currently.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank
You.
Okay folks, that's all we had signed up.
Is there anybody else that would like to
make any public comments this evening?
Yes ma'am.
Hi, My name is re I'm a resident of Queen and County.
I live in Grayville. I work in Annapolis. I'm a doctor.
I heard the parents
and I think, yes, we need
to support our mental health services in the school.
I'm just gonna make a small short story.
When I first initially bought my house in the Queen
and county, I looked at our Grayville Elementary school,
compared it with other counties, elementary school,
how they're performing.
Coming from the Indian background,
I wanted the best school for my kid.
And I know our schools are doing very good,
but we are still, we need a lot
of support from the school system.
I want our board to be supported for education programs so
that look at Harvard County, why they are doing best,
why other counties are doing much more better.
Of course mental health also plays a role into this.
So definitely lot of support into the public school system.
That's what I would request from all of you.
I didn't want it to put my kid into the private school.
I have two kids, although I, yes, I can afford
with my husband, but I think public schools should be given
a fair chance to accelerate in the education.
And if parents like me
and other educated parents would not put our kids into
public school, will not give them fair chance.
And kids need to learn from the system.
And another thing is the bullying.
I have been hearing a lot of bullying going
around the school, so I would appreciate if you guys can
come up with some kind of program and prevention for that.
And lastly, is there any chance we can get a playground at
Long Point Park, please?
I'm a mother. I drive my kids
around looking for playgrounds.
Thank you for Berry Park.
But I don't wanna add to the island traffic
or congestion in the summer months.
If you can give us our playground back at the Long Point
Park, that'll be great.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay. Anybody else wish to
make some public comments this evening?
No, go on once, twice.
Alright, I'll turn it back over to the commissioners
for any closing remarks. Commissioners.
Chris, you want to? Let's,
Patrick, do you wanna go first?
First because I think there's a hot topic
that you should be, you've been
working really hard on as well.
So let's talk about it.
No, because I, I think I, sir, thank you
For sharing your, Your story.
And I just, commissioner McLaughlin has been working on
trying to get more funding for youth crisis,
a youth crisis center since before your son took his life.
I remember we were at the Maryland Association
of Counties just a few weeks
Before your father, I mean, sorry,
before your son took his life.
And Commissioner McLaughlin going up to Governor Moore
and explaining the money that we needed from the state
because he secured a $5 million
grant from the fellow government.
But we need the matching money from the state.
And he has been relentless in pursuing the state.
And they're not doing it right.
They're not giving us our funding.
And if you remember the chart up here that you saw
for school funding, Queens County is way above
where we're supposed to be.
And the state is way below.
And that's not an excuse that Queens County can't do more.
'cause we will always do more. And if you ask Dr.
Kibbler, he'll tell you, we, we've called him directly
and said whatever you need for, for mental health, we're,
we are your partner in this
and working with our Department of Health for that.
It's not fast enough. It's not enough. And I get that.
So I'm not making excuses for anything.
You're a hundred percent correct.
But I do want Patrick to share what he's been working on
because this is something
that has been at the forefront for him.
And we need help from the citizens to get the state,
because we are of rural county.
I mean, the budget might look like a lot, you know,
it does not go that far as you've seen
where everything goes,
particularly when it comes to those things. So Patrick,
Why don't you talk a little about what you,
I didn't really know Christopher.
And we were sitting at Mako and it was my first Mako
and long story short, we were just lollygagging
and his daughter
and my daughter, Bethany knew a
girl who took her life.
And that kind of cemented our friendship and our bond.
And we've been working, he's very nice to say it,
but it's been a team effort.
Jim, Jack, Phil, and Christopher and myself.
I, I could talk for two hours about this.
I was just on a zoom
with M-D-H-N-B-H-A
and it's the same crap every time.
We don't have the money. So
as he was saying,
we got a $5 million grant from Congressman Harris.
All we need, all we need is a 25% matching
grant from the state.
It doesn't have to be from BHA or, or MDH.
We tried to, I talked to the Speaker of the House,
Pena Melnick before she was a speaker.
And they just don't commit. They don't commit.
They wouldn't let us submit a
but they wouldn't let us submit it as a line item.
They wouldn't let, I'm talking about the legislature.
They wouldn't let us submit it
as a miscellaneous to the budget.
So here we are and this $5 million grant expires in
about October or November.
If we can't get the, the matching fund now
what, what is it for?
It's a, it's for capital improvements. We got a four.
The, the guys in front of you got a $4 million grant.
You, you know, we don't talk about this stuff
because we want it to get to the point where it,
the doors are gonna open so we don't talk about it.
'cause you know, we're, we're not politicians.
We're, we're, we're servant leaders for you.
So we got this $4 million grant for the Witt Center,
which is a, a, a really great program in Kent County.
We convinced the Kent County commissioners to go along
with us and three other counties.
We were gonna turn this vacant building into a PHP
partial hospitalization program.
And we get this $5 million from the congressmen
and we can't get the state to help us.
And that's where we are. Then even if they did,
we still have to ask for 1.5 million for staffing per year.
So what this would do, what would this do?
So when the, the sheriff shows up and the,
and our great EMS show up at a place, someone's house
that's having a a, a mental health issue.
They do an evaluation and then they call the emergency room.
And the emergency room doctor says bring
them in for an evaluation.
Our goal is to take them directly to the,
either the Witt Center
or the PHP where they can get evaluated immediately
and get mental health care expeditiously.
Not sitting in an emergency room for days and days
and days waiting for a bed to open up in Western Maryland so
that their child can get inpatient care.
So that is what these guys and we're fighting for and, and,
and Todd Mon and, and our EMS people.
So I know it doesn't seem like we're doing a lot
Carl and, and and Rebecca,
but we are getting back to the, the call with MDH
We, it was about the 9, 8, 8 issues we're having.
And I'm not gonna say anything 'cause we're on television,
but I'll certainly talk to you afterwards if you'd
like to talk about it.
So I will also say
that we need a plan.
So I I we need a plan from the Board of Education
and, and the edu the Department of Education come
to us if,
and say, here, this is what we think
we can do to help our kids.
I know that Talbot County has a really exceptional program
called the yellow ribbon or Yellow slip.
And here's how it works.
It starts in third grade and it goes all the way through.
So each child gets a, a yellow card
and if they're struggling with anything
or they know somebody who's struggling
and they don't have the words, they literally walk up
to an adult in the school.
And all the schools are, to your point, are trained on
how to help this child.
So the child doesn't feel bullied,
the child doesn't feel like they're gonna get in trouble,
the child, et cetera, et cetera.
They give the card to the teacher.
The teacher immediately takes the child to
the principal's office in a, in a safe space,
I guess you could call it where they call the parents in.
That's a really good program.
We do this in, I believe I could be mistaken,
we do this in sixth and eighth grade in Queen Annes County.
We're here. These five guys are sitting in front of you
asking to tell us what we need to do.
I don't have the answers. I've been working on this
with these guys for three, four years.
I started working on this before I got elected.
I, I don't have the answers.
I, I don't know, you know, one of the gentlemen
or that, Liam,
it happened at one o'clock in the morning on his phone.
So it, it, it, it happened. It's not the school's fault.
It is not the school's fault,
but it is our responsibility, the schools, the board of ed,
and the commissioners to get proper training.
We need a plan. And I don't know what that plan is,
but our doors are open and we'll listen
and you tell us what you need.
I have two questions to what you said.
One is how we can help you in,
can you step up to the microphone? So
You said you are having difficulty getting the
funding Right.
How we can help as parents
Right.
To the governor. Okay.
To to Christopher's point, we're, we're in the,
we're in a thousand people in a banquet.
He's up on the plateau.
I literally walked up onto the plateau in front of him
to talk to him to say, I got a $5 million grant
and from Congressman Harrison and can you help me?
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Four times I've talked
to him face to face.
He puts me in touch with his, you know,
His Aide.
His aide, and it just falls by the wayside.
I, I don't see Todd, but Todd emailed this guy.
Todd emailed the governor's office multiple times,
following up for McLaughlin talking to, and nothing.
It's just really bizarre. They need
To hear From the people.
They, yeah. So, so thank you Chris. And
No matter what level of life
Officer you are, I mean, for us too, right?
Hearing from people matters a lot
more than hearing from each other.
But it does take the people reaching out.
And I will vouch Patrick's story
because I think he made the state police uncomfortable when
he got so close to the governor about that.
The, but it is reaching out and it's all the people and,
and we're happy to meet with you after and,
and coordinate with that because that makes a difference.
You know, when the governor's office is hearing from
parents, particularly parents who have lost a child,
it's harder for them to ignore
that correspondence they hear from us.
And unfortunately, you know,
we're just a small rural county.
It's easy not to pay attention to us if you're in Annapolis.
But it's much harder for them to ignore the parents.
And that's the voices that matter.
Yeah. We can definitely reach out.
And the second question is, you set an example
for Talbot County where they have this yellow
ribbon kind of system.
In that example, you said kids are taken
to the principal office or
certainly their parents are called in.
Where is the mental health specialist?
Do they have the mental health specialist there? Yes. And,
And, and so do we And and we have and
and Megan Pinder is one of our mental health specialists.
And Ms. Hurlock, these are wonderful people.
We have only two in whole county. Well,
I, I can't speak to that.
No, I was just gonna say that.
I appreciate your points, but we have resources
in, in all of their schools.
But this specific program you're talking about is not
currently going on from third grade to 12th grade.
We are learning that. Best practice is saying maybe we bring
that next year, but we have similar ways when a student's in
mental health crisis in our schools that we bring resources
around around the child, whether
just the general education classroom teacher,
a guidance counselor, a social worker, assistant principal,
principal, sending resources from the central office down
mobile crisis that is in our community, a collection
of our mental health providers.
We have a lot of resources in this county to help.
And we're just gonna keep refining with the,
the health department, those mental health professionals,
our school system staff, our commission staff, to
what we can do even more moving forward.
And one of those suggestions is like,
we've been focusing middle school and,
and the health class of high school.
Maybe we do need to do better at like third grade on having
a specific program around this starting next year.
And we're gonna do that. I mean, we were able to stand up a,
a program just at, in the last, last three months
of the year for sixth grade through 12th grade.
We, we stopped everything to make sure
that we could get in front of every child like that.
Yeah. In response to what's going on?
And then we're gonna continue that moving forward,
bringing it to the elementary level and,
and all grades moving out.
And we, as parents, we,
the most important thing is we make sure
that our voices are heard.
We can definitely support you guys
and write the emails. Yeah,
Thank you.
That would, that would be, thank you.
Vitally important if everybody here could write, not just
as an individual, but as an organization, you know,
Noah's organization or whatever the organization
you're affiliated with.
And I don't know how we can get you these email
'cause it would be the governor, the director of MDH,
director of BHA, et cetera, et cetera. I, I can
Tell I'll reach out to Mary.
Well, but I mean for everybody.
Do did, when you signed in,
did everybody give their email? Yeah. No,
But I'll be happy to, to add mine.
Yeah. I mean, does it, I mean, does it, is it as simple
and, and I'm not trying to, to make this, simplify this,
that it's that easy 'cause I have no idea what you guys do.
I'm learning what you're doing, what you do.
And, and I've come to have a new appreciation
for the school board and, and now my county commissioners.
But is, is it as simple as signatures?
Hey, we're trying, our, our commissioner has this grant
and we're gonna lose it
and we have a problem here in our county
and we just need you to pay attention to this and,
and get us over the finish line with it. Is it that simple?
It's more than just, it's not for you in particular.
I mean, signatures. That's, that's what I mean.
It's your story, right.
They need to hear the story
because that's what's compelling for them.
That's what's harder for them.
If you get just a petition that has a whole bunch
of signatures and we get all the times, you know,
a form letter and you know, people sign it
or it says it's some sort of form email
and send it right from name it still says insert name here
and email it to us and like that sure about very persuasive,
Right? Right.
But when you hear the actual stories of
what somebody's been through
and how it's affected them, it's really hard to be a human.
Ignore that. Right.
That's why I came to, So we are
still somewhat human up here.
So, and, and the same I think in Annapolis.
So those stories are, are what matters.
So we can coordinate with you.
So I think you could be a,
a very important voice for what we're trying to
Do.
Whatever I can't guarantee is
that's gonna push up the edge, but it's gonna help.
So if, so, if I could make a suggestion,
'cause I spend a lot of time in Annapolis.
The governor's not where you want to go.
The, the people that hold the purse strings in Annapolis is
the legislature and it's not gonna do any good.
I I would, we have three delegates and a senator here.
They're in the minority party in Annapolis.
Where those the, for we
delegate errands, delegate gr
and Delegate Jacobs and Senator Hershey.
But I want, my point is you need to get it to the people
who do hold the purse strings, which is the majority party.
And I tell people this all the time.
If you want something done in Annapolis, it's great to talk
to your local delegates and senators, but you gotta go
after the people who actually have the
vote to make a difference.
So I recommend you send it to all of the
committee member leaders,
which we, I can get you all of those.
And I will have Beth, who is our public information,
I will have it share out to a group
and then we share it, whether it's through Facebook,
however you wanna do it, and share the story
right to all those people.
Because to Chris's point, they've got hearts.
And that's what they've gotta hear is, you know,
we've done what we can do.
We've, we've got almost to the finish line,
but we gotta get across the finish line.
And that's gonna take help from there in terms of funding.
And like I said, you know, our, our, our delegates here
and our senators, they're,
they're the greatest group in in the world in Annapolis.
They, they stop a lot of bad things from happening down
there, quite frankly for the rural counties.
But again, you've gotta make your point to the people
who can make those deci make those decisions
and get us across that finish line.
And, and I I, I'm kinda like Patrick, I hear about this,
it's the most disheartening thing in the world when you got
three, you know, two kids and three young grandkids
and you look around at what the world's becoming.
It's very sad. And, and to see the heartbreak
and everything that goes into it.
And you know, we, we want to do something.
And I'm gonna say it right now.
I'm, I'm asking everybody in this room, everybody
that's watching at home, get a group together.
Let's all talk about it.
Let's make a plan together
because we're gonna be much stronger.
I've learned this about being a rural county.
You are much stronger with numbers than you are by yourself.
When we go to Annapolis, we go with Kent, Talbot, Caroline,
as many as we can get on the shore to go to Annapolis.
And typically we sometimes we have success.
So there's strength in numbers,
there's strength in the stories.
And, and that would be my suggestion to get
to Annapolis and get that home.
Carl, I would just, and Rebecca,
I would just say thank you.
When you do get to the, when all of you get to the point
where you're, we'll send an email to all of the folks
that we'll supply you with.
Don't focus just on Queen Annes county.
'cause they, you know, it, it's, it's the state.
This is a, this is a state issue, it's a country,
which is why we're going to MDH, right?
'cause that's their job.
So make it as a, as a
and virtually, here's the strange thing.
Virtually every delegate
and senator agree with you, especially on the Eastern shore.
They've been helping us. We've been working with
Tom Hutchinson and, and I forget the other guy there.
Johnny Mo, Johnny Mtz, et cetera, et cetera.
So it's not just our county, it's really the state.
So thank you
Phil, you have anything?
Yeah, I, I, I, first of all, I want to thank our staff.
I want to thank our finance department.
I want to thank our department heads.
I want to thank our directors
and the various departments that put together these budgets
that they submit to our county administrator
for his approval and then onto the commissioners.
And a lot of times they ask that they get or told no,
but they work hard and they work diligently to try to do
the best they can for the dollars that we are,
we collect in taxes and, and other storms of revenue.
So to our, to again to our staff.
Thank you very much for everything that you guys do
and you are appreciated.
Jack, you good? No, I'm gonna, yeah. Okay.
So I'm gonna shift to like some
of the financial stuff that we've talked
about and heard about tonight.
I'm not gonna speak to anybody else in the state's budget
right now because just like us, they're going
through the same process of hearings, finding out what's
what No budget is finalized in the state of Maryland.
But I specifically real quickly just wanna speak
to the Talbot County comparison.
One thing Talbot County and Anne Arundel County across the
bridge have that we don't have the luxury
of is they have a tax cap that is set by the citizens.
The only thing that they can increase it for is education.
And they basically, that's
what they do is they will make sure they have all their
services paid for.
Everything is, that was budgeted that they, that they wanted
to get into budget is budgeted.
And then they all have a supplemental property tax
that goes against education.
So if they're 67 cents
right now, that's probably where they're at.
But I doubt 'cause they have a big
huge Kerwin hit this year.
I doubt they're gonna wind up at 67 at the end of the day.
It'll probably be over 80 cents
before it's all said and done.
And I'm not gonna speculate on the numbers
'cause I don't know what they are right now, quite frankly.
I know as of right now we are the lowest at
80 cents. I just looked it
Up.
Jackets 81.30 cents.
Okay. So, and then Cecil County,
they, they're, they're struggling.
And I, I really wanted to talk about education funding
because that is, and Dr.
Kler knows that's one of my passions.
'cause I actually sat on the keland commission
on the budgeting and finance side of the Kwin Commission
and I voted against it.
I was one of three dissenting votes for one reason.
'cause I knew we'd be sitting here today going through
what we're going through because they weren't leaving
local education local.
They were going to do one size fits
all for the entire state.
And they were gonna create a budget that focused on that.
Which leaves counties like us and and Somerset County
and a lot of our shore counties in our,
our western Maryland, our southern Maryland counties, trying
to figure out how you close that gap on the money
that they're telling you you need.
Meanwhile, we have things slipping through the cracks.
And I talked to Dr. Kler before tonight
'cause I wanted to ask, there's six categories that have
what they call restricted funds
under the current commission.
Those restricted funds can be spent on those six items only.
Now they may have a surplus of half a million dollars,
you know, whatever, a million dollars.
He doesn't have the ability to move that where it's needed,
whether it's mental health
or any other part of the school system
that needs extra money.
Their only recourse is to come back to us.
And you heard the number that the state shorted Queen Annes
County over the last four years
and that is from 2018, that number.
So just add inflation to
that $12 million that we've been shorted.
We'd have all those mental health service,
we'd have a lot more here.
And we're trying to make it up.
We do every year for the last four years with seven,
$8 million a year.
But then you get to a point where
you gotta still look at the rest of the county
and the other tax paying people in the county and you,
and you gotta try to draw a balance where you can.
And, and I'm a firm believer in spending cuts.
I, I get that. But there's also a lot of necessity.
We're an aging community here in Queen Anne County.
That's why we had an ad, a seventh EMS unit.
And that's not a cheap proposition.
When I first became commissioner an ambulance costs
$325,000
and it costs roughly 600,000 to put a crew on the road.
Now an ambulance is well over seven to $800,000
and a crew was $1.2 million to put on the road.
Right? So again, and,
and I'm telling you, we're gonna need another
ambulance within the next five years.
So all that's facing us.
Not to mention the fact that we have capital projects.
We've been very diligent about trying
to pay it forward in terms
of capital projects so we're not hitting the bond.
That's how we have AAA bond rating
because they look at our fiscal responsibility
and how we spend money and how we pay our bills
and how we look to the future.
So Kerwin is the biggest thing out there in the state.
Statewide. Every county in this state is struggling making
that mandate.
That's, that's coming down each year, next year.
And I'm telling you all right now,
'cause be sitting back here next year
and this conversation's gonna be a lot worse.
'cause next year the state is supposed to almost triple
what we're supposed to get because they call it the
fiscal cliff of education.
Next year, that's when all the teachers are supposed
to make their minimum salaries.
That's when a lot of teachers are going to make more.
Because how many in here started out at the same salary
and worked for it for 10, 15 years at the same salary?
Anybody? I don't think so.
But that's what teachers are gonna be doing based on if I'm
a first year teacher and I make 60,000,
but there's a teacher in there that's been under the
previous systems only making 65.
Do you think that teacher making 65 that's been there six,
eight years is gonna be okay
with a first year teacher coming in at 60?
No, they're gonna want more money.
And that's understandable. We all would.
That's human nature. And that's,
that's what's gonna come due next year.
And that's when we're gonna see the biggest hit of Kerwin.
And it's convenient. It's
after an election year, so nobody has
to talk about it right now.
All you have to do is read the papers.
Look at the day after signing died.
You had the Senate president
and you had the speaker of the house come out
and say, we've got three things we've gotta address
between now and next session.
Kerwin the highway user revenues, which is how we take care
of all our roads in the state and the Medicare expansion
or Medicaid expansion and total.
Right now they're projected to be a $2.2 billion deficit
before they drop the gravel next year.
So there's a lot to process.
This next year's gonna be a lot harder than
what we faced before.
I just just, we were just at a forum
where everybody was talking about Queen Annes County
and I told everybody there, the problem isn't
in Queen Annes County right now.
It's whatever's gonna happen
across that bridge in Annapolis.
So thank you.
These guys make my job easy. They know everything.
I make a motion. Can I mention one more? Oh sure, sure.
Is Jess here? Is Jess still here? Jesse? Jesse, yes.
I'll talk to you afterwards. We're,
we're gonna look at a feasibility study
for sports Fields up county, like up by Kent County.
There's, there's no red lights on Route 3 0 1.
So I'll talk to you after this. Thank you
Sir.
Now you want a motion? Absolutely. Motion
To adjourn. Second.
All those in favor? Aye.
Thank you all for coming out tonight. Yep.