The Wicomico County Council cordially invites the people of Wicomico County to participate in a public hearing on the County Executive’s Proposed Operating Budget for the fiscal year 2011-2012. The public hearing will be held on Tuesday May 3, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. in the DaNang Room of the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center. The hearing will follow the County Council’s first Legislative Session in May, which will begin at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday May 3rd. at the same location in the civic center.
For the third consecutive year County Executive Richard M. Pollitt, Jr. is asking the County Council to approve a budget which will be lower than the budget for the previous year. Unlike in previous years, the County Executive is asking the County Council to impose a 5 cent increase in the property tax rate and to increase fees for certain county services. If the tax and fee increases are approved the result will not be an increase in county services to residents, or any new programs. Instead, Mr. Pollitt’s budget message says the increases are needed to avoid deeper cuts in vital county services, including education and public safety.
The Proposed Fiscal Year 2012 Operating Budget can be reviewed in its entirety and can be downloaded from the county’s web site: http://www.wicomicocounty.org/ ; look under “What’s New.” For purposes of the public hearing the Proposed Budget will be projected on a large screen in the civic center. Persons who may want their own printed copy of the Proposed Budget should download and print it from the website. Only a very limited number of printed copies will be made for the hearing.
For those who cannot attend the public hearing in person, it will be broadcast live on Comcast Cable, PAC 14 and by delayed replay on Mediacom. In addition to the public hearing, interested persons may telephone, or email any member of the Wicomico County Council, whose contact information may be found on the county web site under County Council.
