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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Does Wicomico County Lines End At Salisbury Town Limits ??

SALISBURY -- This week, the Wicomico County Council got a first look at what projects the county executive thinks should be budgeted throughout the next five years.
As part of the annual capital improvement plan presentation, Rick Pollitt outlined 14 projects for general government and Public Works, seven projects for the Board of Education, 11 projects for Recreation and Parks, and four projects for the Salisbury-Ocean City: Wicomico Regional Airport.
"It's aggressive," Pollitt said. "But it's not irresponsible."
"I'd say aggressive is an understatement," said Bob Culver.
The plan includes full funding for construction of a new Bennett Middle School.
Pollitt said the plan, which will run from July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2017, includes $18 million in county money for projects during the first fiscal year -- a sum Pollitt said can be paid for without the issuance of additional bonds.
Andrew Mackel, director of finance for the county, told council members there is enough available money from completed and abandoned projects as well as the general fund to negate the need to bond additional funds during fiscal year 2013.
Mackel went on to say during fiscal years 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 the county will have to sell bonds specifically for Bennett Middle School constructions.
While some of the council members have expressed concerns regarding the amount of debt and how it would affect the county's ability to fund county departments and save money for unforeseen expenses, the county's debt is just over $102 million, while the county's debt ceiling is fixed at $262 million.
One of the reasons some council members object to increasing the debt service is because they do not want the amount of money the county must allocate to pay off debt to impede on the general fund operating budget.
Projects included in the plan include $2 million for cell door refurbishment for the corrections department, $100,000 for upgrading boilers at the health department, $914,000 for two phases of enhancements to Johnson Road, $231,000 for a fitness and wellness center at Wor-Wic Community College, $34 million for construction of a new Bennett Middle School and $9 million for the final phase of James M. Bennett High School.
One of the ways Pollitt proposes raising funding for the scheduled projects is by increasing the property tax levels by 7 cents -- the maximum increase allowed by the county's revenue cap.
The County Council is expected to hold additional meetings and a public hearing on the capital improvement plan before voting on what aspects to include and what projects it chooses to cut from the five-year plan.
The county charter requires a council vote be held before the third Tuesday in February. However, it is likely the council will hold a vote to extend that timeline, according to council administrator Matt Creamer, given the council members voted to give Pollitt two additional weeks to prepare the plan.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Apparently, the answer is yes. Not long ago there was a meeting in Delmar led by Sample-Hughes with Rick Pollitt in attendance. Of course, Mr. Gibb brought up the tax differential. Delmar is getting taxed for services in Wicomico County that the county does not provide because our municipality provides them. Mr. Pollitt claims that Delmar is not entitles to a break because 100% of our property tax dollars does to the WCBOE. Of course then the question arose; if that is so, why are our children being educated in trailers. Our school has not had any major improvements done in years and there is no plan to get them done either. So yeah, I'd say the county line stops at Salisbury.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget the Wicomico BOE basically balanced its budget and didn't need to redistrict on the back of Delmar Elementary. By shifting the 5th grade off to the Delaware side and then doing away with the Year Round program at Delmar. Then last year they took 5 portables over to Bennett Middle and there is way less small group tutoring. No other school in the County gave up so much for the rest of the County. They need to remember Delmar when the budget improves in the future.