(5/16) At its May 16 meeting, Emmitsburg Town Council approved the FY-23 budget. The budget is based upon an estimate that the town’s general fund revenue will increase by $146,131 to $2,053,217 over the previous year. Town expenses are expected to increase by $153,217 to $2,053,217.

Based on inflation, many of the line items in the town’s budget are slowly increasing from one year to the next, administrative accountant Cole Tabler said. "As we are finding out as we go through this budget, that projects are costing more. We are increasing line items where we feel that we are going to feel the most impact," Town Manager Cathy Willets said.

Expenditures for the public works streets department increased to $482,000. Repairs and maintenance for the parks department has increased to $24,750, and the finance department expenditures increased to 209,000, $10,000 over last year due to increases in wages and benefits.

The budget for the buildings department increased by $5,000 to $138,726, according to Tabler. The increase is for heating oil and gas according to Willets. "And we’re hoping that’s enough," she said.

On the positive side, the Frederick County Sheriff’s office contract for FY-23 saw 9.8% reduction in cost to $271,470 over last year’s cost.

The staff also briefed the Council on capital improvement projects on the horizon for FY-23, including the continuation of sidewalk ramp connections throughout town, the stormwater basin retrofit at Silo Hill, Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System compliant tree planting, and the town’s historic walking tour.

Future capital improvement projects for the water department include: a water storage tank (to be completed in the next two to three years), West Main Street waterline replacement (four years), Emit Garden’s Water Treatment Plant (five to six years), Waynesboro Pike waterline replacement (six years), and work on North Seton Avenue (seven or more years). Infrastructure projects for the sewer department include a sewer relining of Federal and DePaul Street, Creamery Road Pump Station Replacement, and a ChemScan upgrade.

As part of their budget approval, the Council unanimously adopted an update to the town’s staff salary structure with an increase of all pay scales by 5 percent to offset the current round of inflation. The increase is not considered a Cost-of-Living Adjustment because "It is not something that will occur year to year," she said.

The unanimous approval to the staff salary structure is in acknowledgement and recognition of the hard work done every day by town staff including what is done behind the scenes, Council President Tim O’Donnell said. "No employee left behind," Council Vice President Clifford Sweeny said.