The Board of County Commissioners for Cecil County met in regular session at the County Administrative Building, 107 North Street, Elkton, Maryland on Tuesday, May 8, 2007.  The following members of the Board were present:

William C. Manlove, President
Mark H. Guns, Vice President
Rebecca J. Demmler, Commissioner
Brian Lockhart, Commissioner
Wayne L. Tome, Sr., Commissioner

Constituting a full Board.

The meeting was called to order by President Manlove at 4:00 p.m. and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance. 

-PUBLIC HEARING - CONSTANT YIELD TAX RATE -

A public hearing was held relating to the constant yield tax rate for Cecil County for fiscal year July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2008.

Mr. Craig Whiteford, Budget Manager, read the following notice which appeared in the Cecil Whig.

The Board of County Commissioners of Cecil County proposes to increase real property taxes:

1. For the tax year beginning July 1, 2007, the estimated real property                                                                                                                      assessable base will increase by 10.4%, from $7,253,829,064 to $8,007,776,504.

2.         If Cecil County maintains the current tax rate of $0.96 per $100 of assessment, real property tax revenues will increase by 10.4% resulting in $7,237,895 of new real property tax revenues.

 3.         In order to fully offset the effect of increasing assessments, the real property tax rate should be reduced to $0.870, the constant yield tax rate.

 4.         The Board of County Commissioners of Cecil County is considering not reducing its real property tax rate enough to fully offset increasing assessments.  The Board of County Commissioners of Cecil County proposes to adopt a real property tax rate of $0.96 per $100 of assessment.  This tax rate is 10.3% higher than the constant yield tax rate and will generate $7,237,895 in additional property tax revenues.

-COMMENTS -

The following citizens appeared and spoke in opposition to the proposed constant yield tax rate:

Richard Boyle, Elkton

Paul B. Wilson, North East

Tom McWilliams, North East

Rich Kwasizur, Cecilton

Gaylord Moody, Chesapeake City

Motion was made by Vice President Guns, seconded by Commissioner Lockhart and carried by a majority vote to set the tax rate for FY 06 at $.96/100 of assessed valuation.

VOTE:

Manlove - Y,    Guns - Y,     Demmler - N,    Lockhart - Y,    Tome - Y

 -PUBLIC HEARING PROPOSED FY-07 BUDGET -

A Public Hearing was held on the proposed budget for Cecil County for fiscal year July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008.

President Manlove presented the Board with the proposed Cecil County, Maryland Fiscal Year 2008 Board of County Commissioner's Budget in the amount of $268,523,766.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Nancy Schwerzler, Earleville, MD - spoke in support of increased funding for the SPCA.

Sheriff Barry Janney, Elkton, MD - spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Sheriff's Department.

Deputy Don Kellum, Elkton, MD - on behalf of the Cecil County Fraternal Order of Police, encouraged the Board to fund the budget request for the Cecil County Sheriff's Office.

Eric Jodlbauer, Elkton, MD - spoke on behalf of the Historical Society of Cecil County and in support of their requested budget.

W. Stephen Pannil, Ed.D - spoke in support of funding requests for Cecil Community College's proposed Physical Education Building.

Dell Foxx - spoke in support of funding for Cecil Community College.

Brad Farquhar - spoke in support of funding for Cecil Community College.

Bill DeFreitas - spoke in support of funding for Cecil Community College.Bill Cox, 22 Lakeview Drive, spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schools.

Laura Hollinger - spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schools.

Linda Elwood - on behalf of the Cecil County Classroom Teachers Association, spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schools.

John Browne - spoke in support of increased funding for Cecil County Public Schools.

Al Volpe - spoke in support of increased funding for Cecil County Public Schools.

Jim Brady, 987 Shady Beach Rd., North East - spoke in support of increased funding for Cecil County Public Schools.

Mike Schmook, 311 King Street - spoke in support of increased funding for Cecil County Public Schools.

Sheila Sewell, 763 E. Old Philadelphia Rd., Elkton, on behalf of the Educational Support Staff of the Cecil County Public Schools, spoke in support of increased funding.

Doug Walton, 104 Ross Street, Elkton - commented about the importance of maintaining the operating budget.

Mary Maloney, 362 Frenchtown Road, Elkton - spoke in support of funding for the Cecil Community College.

Ronald Rae, 4 St. Pat's Circle, commented about the proposed increase in water and sewage rates and about the SPCA budget requests.

David Moore, 265 Chandlee Road - spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schoools.

John Denver - on behalf of the Susquehanna Workforce Network, spoke in support of funding for the organization.

Carl Roberts, Ed.D - on behalf of the Cecil County Public Schools, spoke in support of the budget request submitted by the Board.

Motion to adjourn the public hearing was made by Commissioner Lockhart, seconded by Commissioner Tome and unanimously carried.    

- NIGHT BUDGET HEARING - 7:00 P.M.

Public Comment continued.

Randy Shaeffer, Bohemia Manor High School - spoke in support of funding request for the Cecil County Public Schools.

Randy Culver - spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schools.

Sabina Whitney - spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schools.

Eric Brown, 23 North Court, North East - spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schools.

Jim Brady, 987 Shady Beach Road, North East - spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schools.Rich Bayer, Upper Bay Counseling - spoke in support of funding for Upper Bay Counseling Services.

 Linda Elwood, Cecil County Classroom Teachers - spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schools.

Sheila Sewell, 763 E. Old Philadelphia Rd., Elkton - spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schools.

Lorie Rinco, 604 Graymount Circle, Elkton - spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schools.

Britaney Bartel - spoke in support of funding for the Cecil Community College.

Heather Morrissey, Cecil County Arts Council - commented in support of funding for the Arts Council.

Lisa Koch, 80 Parkside Lane - on behalf of the Cecil County Board of Education, spoke in support of the requested budget of the Cecil County Public School System.

Jane Shuer - spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schools.

Chris Moran - spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schools.

Chris Soppa, 10 Silchester Court, Elkton - spoke in support of increased funding for the Cecil County Public Schools.

Maggie Kreshcoft, Port Deposit - spoke in support of funding for the Cecil County Arts Council.

Tom McWilliams, 245 Plum Point Road, Elkton, MD - commented in support of the proposed budget for the Cecil Community College and the non-profit organizations.

Motion to adjourn was made by Commissioner Tome, seconded by Vice President Guns and unanimously carried to approve.

President Manlove announced that a decision will be made on May 29, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. on the FY 08 Operating/Capital Budget & Water and Sewer Rate & Connection Fees.

There being no further business of the Board, the meeting was adjourned.

Alfred C. Wein, Jr.
County Administrator

Approved:
William C. Manlove President