(5/25) The Town Council approved the FY-25 budget, to go into effect on July 1. Real Property Tax and Personal Property Tax will remain the same as the current fiscal year, but residents will see increases in water, sewer and electricity rates.

The budgets allow for the Thurmont Real Property Tax Rate to remain at $0.2987 per $100 of assessed value for FY-25, which the Council approved 4-0 at the May 7 meeting. The Personal Property Tax Rate will remain at $0.62 per $100 of assessed valuation. Of course, the Town cannot determine County property taxes.

At the start of the new fiscal year, residents will find a 15% increase on their water and sewer bills, as approved by the Council at the April 30 meeting. The changes in electric rates are due to the Town accepting a monthly contract, rather than the usual multi-year contract. Mayor John Kinnaird said the rates could go up or down each month, or even stay the same. The Town will let residents know when the rates change via the Town website, newsletter and Facebook page.

Commissioner Marty Burns assured residents in attendance that this is the best option financially, as they won’t be locking in rates while they’re so high. Kinnaird assured residents that the Board would consider a multi-year contract again when the electric rates decrease. "That’s the beast that we face today with the electric market," Kinnaird said.

Prior to the Town Council’s approving the budget, each department head and Chief Financial Officer Linda Joyce proposed their own budgets. After all presentations, Burns provided an analysis that helped to trim $84,900 from the budget. According to Kinnaird, a lot of the trims were "one time savings" that were not essential to the FY-25 budget based on Burns’ analysis.

Burns provided the analysis in support of keeping the tax rate the same for residents. He was able to find line items to reduce by looking in areas where the Town did not spend money in previous years or could cut back, such as the Town Christmas decorations.

Town Planner Kelly Duty presented the preliminary Planning and Zoning Department budget, totaling $130,500 for FY-25. The budget allocates funds for a wide scanner rental to digitize plans. Once scanned, which Duty believes will likely happen in the winter, Thurmont residents will be able to access plots and plans online. According to Duty, the physical copies will still be available even after the digitization project is complete.

Economic Development Manager Vickie Grinder proposed adding a full-time employee to her department, citing increased productivity and the need for support. With the new full-time salary and an additional $3,000 for promoting the MML Convention, the Economic Development preliminary budget will increase by $30,000 over the current fiscal year.

Grinder presented the mayor and commissioners with supportive data showing the additional accomplishments, including increased grant monies, she has achieved in the past when she had an additional employee. "Adding another full-time body, when you’re getting a $458,000 return on the investment back to the Town of Thurmont, that is a wise investment," Burns said.

Chief of Police David Armstrong presented the Public Safety preliminary budget, accommodating a full staff of 14 officers. With other additions, such as maintenance for the police station, the total preliminary budget is $1,920,796, an increase of $280,101 over the current fiscal year.

With a full staff, Armstrong would like to add two new police vehicles to the fleet, including a new K9 vehicle. He hopes to use Chevrolet Tahoes this time, as the department had trouble with the new Fords they bought in 2020.

Joyce reviewed the preliminary Administration budget, which totaled $1,412,790, an increase of $59,879 over the current fiscal year’s budget. They had no capital projects for the upcoming fiscal year.

The Parks and Recreation preliminary budget is $426,100, lowered $9,201 from the current fiscal year.

This was partially possible due to lower rates from new vendors, as well as the line item Parks & Rec Capital Expenses being cut to a third of what it was for the current fiscal year for the tree program. According to CAO Jim Humerick, the Town may be able to decrease the budget for the tree program even further.

Salaries were reallocated between Parks and Streets, increasing Parks’ budget by $26,629. The department created a new line item for uniforms, which previously was under "Materials & Supplies," to better track uniform expenses.

The only increase in the Streets budget was for sanitation because the Town will be under a new contract as of May 2025. The remaining line items either stayed the same or decreased, especially the budget for Streets and Alleys which decreased $26,000. According to Joyce, this is because the department usually records it as a year-end item for the Highway User Account. However, at this time, the account has enough funds to pay for any patches or repairs the Town’s streets and alleys may need.