Carroll County officials said they are working with a tighter budget than usual this year, making additional spending tougher as every increase requires a cut somewhere else.
Next month, county commissioners will work out the budget for the 2007 fiscal year beginning in June 2006. This year, the budget they started with was close to being balanced, said Ted Zaleski, director of management and budget.
After county agencies presented the commissioners with their proposed additions to the budget, $1.2 million was spoken for in additional spending, said Commissioner Dean Minnich.
Even if the commissioners make final adjustments to the budget after a public hearing at the end of April, revenues in 2007 may be smaller than projected because of the recently passed senior property tax credit.
The tightened budget eliminated the possibility of further lowering a countywide cap on property value increases, Minnich said, though he had hoped to keep a long-term goal of reducing the county?s reliance on property taxes for covering the increasing costs of growth.
“Our theory from the very start of our term was that growth should pay for growth,” Minnich said. “The people who contribute to growth should pay more for that growth than Mom and Pop, who built their home in the 1960s and are living on $12,000 a year now.”
The transfer tax, however, has been opposed by State Sen. Larry Haines, who leads Carroll County?s delegation in the General Assembly.
Budget so far
» April: Commissioners? capital and operating budgets are prepared and go before public hearings countywide.
» May: Public hearing is held; commissioners make final revisions and adopt budget.
