Tax increases in Carroll County likely to be a hot topic during the FY25 budget work session meeting on April 18th

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The Carroll County Commissioners are nearing the end of their Budget Work Session meetings for the 2025 fiscal year budget prior to releasing their proposed budget publicly on April 23rd. The final Budget Work Session before the release of the proposed budget is scheduled for Thursday April 18th at 1:00pm.

You can watch that budget work session meeting here:

The FY25 Budget process (at least the part they put in front on the public) began back on March 5th with a FY25 Budget Overview and a total of 11 sessions have been broadcast to the public so far (you can view them all on the County YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CarrollCountyGov/streams)

The idea of tax increases has been kicked around many times by the Commissioners during the budget process but no action has been taken to date. If they do plan to increase taxes in FY25 this meeting (on March 18th) is likely the meeting where a motion will be made and acted upon.

Things to watch for during the afternoon meeting on the 18th:

1. Will a motion be offered to raise taxes?
2. If a motion is offered – what taxes will be increased: Income Tax, Property Tax, or Recordation Tax? Will it be just one tax increase or multiple increases this year?
3. Will a motion to raise taxes get the currently required 4 votes in order to pass?
4. If the motion does not get the necessary 4 votes – will 3 of the Commissioners change the rules to only require 3 votes in order to raise taxes? SEE ADDITIONAL DETAILS ABOUT REMOVAL OF THE SUPERMAJORITY HERE

Stay tuned as the Observer will report out at some point after the meeting on the 18th (as I am sure a number of other news outlets will as well) on the status of tax increases in Carroll County.

There are a number of scheduled budget related actions after the proposed budget is released on the 23rd: Proposed Budget Road Show around the county, A Public Hearing in May, more Work Sessions and the adoption of the Budget before the end of May. You can see the full schedule here: https://www.carrollcountymd.gov/government/directory/management-budget/bureau-of-budget/

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