Commissioners hold public hearing on proposed FY19 budget

The budget lists county expenditures at $49 million, which is a decrease in the previous year’s expenditures totaling about $53 million. However, the county will be using $1.6 million of its fund balance to make up the difference between its $47.3 million in revenue and $49 million in expenditures. This will leave the fund balance at just under $4 million.

“It is a good budget for all citizens of the county and I think all citizens will understand that,” said Short, who is up for re-election this year with fellow commissioners William Pickrum and Ron Fithian, at Tuesday night’s hearing. “If anybody in this room thinks different, that’s what you do come November or June. And that’s your right, that’s your absolute right.”

Kent County Public Schools administrators, members of grassroots group Support Our Schools and concerned residents raised issues over a proposed $578,465 reduction in the education funding request during the hearing. The total projected funding for the education budget, which makes up 38 percent of the county’s total budget, is currently $17.1 million.

Kent County Board of Education candidate Francoise Sullivan said hearing 

comments during the budget workshop meetings, she was feeling less confident in the commissioners. She said she was going to stop asking what the commissioners’ plan was to increase revenue.

“Instead I’m going to tell you what I’m going to do,” said Sullivan., a parent and cofounder of Support Our Schools. “I’m not going to vote for any of you. I’m going to encourage my friends and neighbors to do the same. I’m going to use my resources to help others in our community become more involved in the decisions being made on their behalf.”

Washington College President Kurt Landgraf offered his support of Superintendent Karen Couch.

Landgraf said the economic development of the county depends on the development of the school district. Whenever an area is losing enrollment and looking to fund the district at maintenance of effort, they were putting themselves at a disadvantage, he said.

“And with the number of students continuing to go down, we’re going to start losing our economic viability and it becomes, for the college, increasingly difficult to attract people to the county,” Landgraf said.

Noting the confrontational tone of the hearing, Dick Goodall, CEO of Dixon Valve and Coupling Co., said it was hard to solve any problems in public due to people taking sides. He suggested county officials and school administrators meet earlier in the year and in private.

“We are good, but we’re not great in a lot of areas because we spend so much of our energy fighting with each other,” Goodall said.

The commissioners have approved two non-recurring items in the education budget: fencing for a proposed school bus depot at the district’s Worton campus and cameras to monitor the depot. The request totals $34,615.

Couch presented the Board of Education’s budget during a commissioners meeting in April and said multiple factors affected the proposed budget, including adjusting teacher salaries and hiring new personnel.

Couch outlined in the budget three helping teacher positions, three social worker positions and one guidance counselor, along with a part-time behavioral specialist. She also discussed changing “dead steps” and other adjustments in the district’s pay scale to remain competitive with neighboring counties.

The commissioners also must account for maintenance of effort — the state mandate that counties fund their corresponding districts at the same per-pupil rate as the previous year — while funding the education budget. If the commissioners fully fund the Board of Education’s request, the increase will be carried over into the next budget.

Couch spoke Tuesday saying the budget was well thought out by administration, staff and Board of Education members. She said teacher salaries in Kent County ranked 22nd out of 23 counties and Baltimore City, while administration salary was the lowest in the state.

“The success of Kent County Public Schools greatly depends on our ability to invest resources in our staff, students and classrooms,” Couch said. “The state’s maintenance of effort law was designed to protect that investment by maintaining steady local levels of per pupil funding. Maintenance of effort was never intended to be the ceiling, but as required by law, set the base funding requirement.”

Couch said consistently funding a school system at maintenance of effort did not address inflation, new programs or declining enrollment. She said it is important to realize that funding a rural school is always a challenge, due to the size of the locals economy.

Couch said an investment in Kent County Public Schools was an investment in the future workforce and economy. Economic development is the key to sustaining Kent County Public Schools, she said.

“I appeal to you that KCPS must be considered an investment, not an expense to the county’s budget,” Couch said. “The children in this community depend upon your commitment and investment in their future.”

Gina Jachimowicz, supervisor of elementary education, said while the education budget currently makes up 38 percent of the county budget, the commissioners should increase the amount.

“There may have been a time where 38 percent of the budget was sufficient, but this is no longer true,” Jachimowicz said. “Just like each of you we expect our public schools to be safe and offer quality programing. But I’m here tonight to let you know firsthand that 38 percent is not enough and I’m genuinely concerned about the future of our system.”

Jachimowicz said fully funding the budget would help support teachers, giving them aides in classrooms. She said with their support teachers could remain focused on improving instruction.

“I do appreciate you listening tonight and reflecting and I do hope you will consider the percentage of your budget dedicated to our schools,” Jachimowicz said. “Think of where we are now and our potential to be great, please be a public school champion and go beyond 38.”

Support Our Schools member Rebecca Heriz-Smith said across the country there has been an increase in need for social workers in public schools. During the school year, administration and parents had expressed wanting a full funding of the education budget, she said.

“We can’t increase staff with even less money than we had last year,” she said.

Parent Elizabeth Proffitt and Support our Schools cofounder Jodi Bortz both expressed a need for social workers within schools. Proffitt said since the commissioners declared May Mental Health Awareness Month, they should be aware of the need for social workers.

“I’m not here to try and explain the damage you’re doing because you already know how cutting the budget will affect everyone,” Bortz told the commissioners. “I haven’t given up on Kent County, but I have given up on you.”

Fithian discussed funding for social workers and other positions for Kent County Public Schools, saying the county was the fundraiser for the district. He said the district had money in its fund balance to make up the difference in funding.

Support Our Schools member Robbi Behr interrupted, saying the commissioners were very unreliable for funding in previous years. She eventually left the meeting, saying the situation was “outrageous.”

Behr spoke during public comment about the current funding requests by outside agencies and other departments. She said these organizations explained to her that if they made an argument in disagreement with the commissioners, they would be denied future funding.

“So I’ve been told by these same people, business leaders, nonprofit leaders, community organization members — that I need to play nice with you today,” Behr said. “That if I keep saying you’re unsupportive of our schools, you’ll start taking away funding out of spite.”

Behr said the budget was a “no” to education and the commissioners had been finding reasons to not fund the budget. She said the real reason the commissioners have not fully funded the education budget was because the county had been looking at flat revenues for the entirety of their time in office.

Chief Finance Officer Pat Merritt presented a short overview of the county’s budget, which noted that county growth had remained mostly stagnant since 2014. In FY14, income tax made up $13.7 million of the county’s revenue, while in FY19 it is expected to come in at $13 million.

Merritt discussed ways the county had decreased expenditures, including reducing the debt service between FY14 and FY17 by $21.5 million — which is 52 percent of the county’s total debt. She also said the county would now be leasing its fleet through a new service, saving an estimated $650,000.

Merritt said raising the income tax rate to its highest possible level would give the county $1.5 million over a three-year period.

Merritt said cuts to the county’s budget included reducing funding for salary increases for county employees, not filling position requests and cutting operating expenditures by 1.5 percent.

Merritt said three emergency medical technician positions would be added to the county’s Department of Emergency Medical Services. The department requested almost $1.6 million for its FY19 budget, asking for four full-time EMTs, along with two part time positions. The budget lists the department’s funds at $1.4 million.

Merritt said the county would add a school resource officer position at the middle school in the FY19 budget. Funds would be taken from the $10.7 million public safety budget.

Merritt said in the FY19 budget, the county would be increasing the economic development department, adding an administrative assistant to the department. Additional increases will be made in the marketing funds for the department, she said.

Jim Luff, Republican candidate for Kent County Commissioner and chairman of the Economic Development Commission, spoke at the hearing.

Luff said when the Economic Development Commission presented an updated strategic plan to the commissioners in 2017, the document had a focus on education. The comprehensive plan also states Kent County should strive to have the best school system in the state, he said.

“True economic development can occur with a top-ranked school system, which will attract employees, businesses, home buyers and other people to come to our county,” Luff said.

Ed Silver, human resources supervisor for Kent County Public Schools, said that while the district has reduced schools and staff in an effort to cut spending, the accountability for a student’s education rests on the shoulders of a smaller group. He said most administrators are working longer hours and getting “beaten up” on social media for things out of their control.

Fithian said he felt Support Our Schools, which has a Facebook page with more than 1,400 members, had been “choreographed” by someone outside of the organization. While he doesn’t believe the Board of Education formed the group, he said he didn’t believe the group was formed by themselves.

“I think there’s people in this room that helped put that together that coached it on, they had speaking engagements together and I’ll let it go at that,” Fithian said. “I don’t read it and I don’t write on it.”

Support Our Schools was formed by four local parents: Heriz-Smith, Behr, Sullivan and Bortz.

Their grassroots activism arose in opposition to initial plans to close two elementary schools. They later agreed with the move, which happened last year, and focused their attention on bolstering school funding.

Galena Elementary School parent Fiona Lum, along with parent Darran Tilghman said their families have remained in the area because of the school system. Lum said the community donates a lot to the schools to make them great.

“I can’t emphasize enough the importance of education. It’s the bedrock of everything in this county,” Lum said. “Literally the only reason we are still here is because the schools have been good to us.”

Parent Tim O’Brien asked the commissioners about delinquent county property taxes and the apparent lack of enforcement. He said one individual has hundreds of thousands of dollars unpaid in property taxes year after year.

Kris Hemstetter, principal of Rock Hall Elementary School, discussed the hard work administrators and teachers do every day. She said the commissioners need to come into the school to see the differences from when they attended.

“I’m just speaking real life. Here, you guys are not in these schools,” Hemstetter said. “I’m in the school every single day. Teachers are working so hard. Administrators are working so hard.”

Joe Wheeler, supervisor of operations for Kent County Public Schools, requested an extension on moving the district’s busses from the public works building. He said he met with county Interim Public Works Director Wayne Morris, who told him Kent County Public Schools had until the end of the day on June 15 — the last day of school — to move the busses.

Wheeler said the district is currently working with the county’s Department of Planning, Housing and Zoning, to develop a zoning amendment necessary for a bus depot, which won’t be approved before August.

Pickrum said he would need to see dollars and cents on why the buses needed to be moved by June 15 before he made a decision on granting the district an extension.