Queen Anne's County Commissioners Announce Fiscal Year 2024 Tax Rates and Budget Adoption
The Queen Anne's County Commissioners, at their regular meeting on June 13, announced the adoption of the tax rates and budget for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24). With a budget of $183.6 million, this year's county budget maintains the same tax rate as the previous year. The FY24 budget reflects a 7.1% increase over the previous year, mainly due to the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic and recent inflationary pressures on labor and material costs required to deliver essential public services.
The real estate tax rate for FY24 is set at $0.8300 per $100 of assessed valuation, which is 0.018 cents above the constant yield. This places Queen Anne's County as the third lowest in terms of real property tax rates among all 23 counties (and Baltimore City) in Maryland. The county tax rates for the municipalities of Centreville and Millington have been established at $0.7000 and $0.7450 per $100 of assessed valuation, respectively.
A tax rate of $2.075 per $100 of assessed valuation for operating personal property of a public utility and operating personal property used to generate electricity for sale has been adopted. The County income tax rate will remain unchanged at 3.20%.
A supplemental real property tax of $.06 per $100 of assessed valuation has been adopted for the Kent Narrows Commercial Management and Waterfront Improvement District.
Regarding the sewer and water operations and maintenance rates, all Sanitary District rate schedules for the Fiscal Year 2024 budget year will see a 2.5% increase, except for the Southern Kent Island Subdistrict, which will have no rate increase.
Funds generated by the recordation tax will be allocated to the Critical Workforce Program and the General Fund. Specifically, $0.15 of the $4.95 recordation tax rate will be directed to the Critical Workforce Program administered by the Department of Housing and Community Services, while the remaining funds will be payable to the General Fund.
The County Commissioners have reaffirmed the funding of Other Post-Employment Benefits in accordance with the approved 10-year plan. Financial status reports will be provided to the Commissioners on a quarterly basis to ensure transparency and accountability.
The Bay Bridge Airport will continue its repayment of a $1,308,000 loan from the General Fund at 3 percent interest for a remaining term of 13 years in FY24.
To support the Volunteer Fire Companies, capital budget allocations for fire and station-related equipment can be carried forward from one fiscal year to the next. However, proper documentation of items purchased must be submitted, and these capital funds must be maintained a separate from other accounts.
The Board of Education will receive funding of $6,378,534 above Maintenance of Effort. The Board's budget will be adopted by category, subject to approval by the County Commissioners, as per the Maryland Annotated Code, Education Article, Section 5-101.
Revenue from the personal property tax on solar generation of electricity will be budgeted for farmland preservation. Capital projects will undergo an annual review based on budgeted amounts versus annual spending. Any savings from capital projects will be returned to the General Capital Projects Fund, and project funds must be expended within three years.
To see more details regarding the upcoming Fiscal Year budget https://www.qac.org/587/Budget-Section or visit qac.org and type “Budget -Section” into the search bar.