LEONARDTOWN — The agency that licenses and polices alcohol sales in St. Mary’s County is preparing to ask taxpayers for $818 more next year, and $100 of that is the first increase in its postage budget in two decades.
The Alcohol Beverage Board got its first look at the request Nov. 12 from its administrator, who said the only two line items she is asking to raise are the attorney contract and postage and freight. The board is expected to vote on the budget at its next meeting, which she called “a do or die vote” because the submission is due to the county two days before the board’s January meeting.
Separately, the board is seeking a change in its own makeup. A legislative proposal to add an alternate, or substitute, board member is scheduled to go before the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County on Tuesday, Nov. 17, when the commissioners review requests for the 2027 General Assembly session.
Where the money goes
The board’s approved budget for the current fiscal year is a little more than $423,000, the administrator said. That was about $40,000 higher than the year before, and she said nearly all of the growth was personnel:
- About $24,000 for the office’s three staff positions, the administrator, a second office employee and the inspector
- About $9,500 for the board attorney under a renewed contract
- About $6,000 for the sheriff’s deputy who serves as alcohol enforcement coordinator
The attorney’s contract runs three years with a built-in increase each year, the largest in the first. The second-year step is $718, which she said the board is obligated to pay.
The other $100 is for stamps. The office came close to running out of postage money last year, she said, and has not raised that line in 20 years because so much of its work moved online. Board packets that were once mailed to members are now scanned and emailed.
After two decades without an increase, she told the board, another $100 is a modest request.
Salaries and benefits are outside the board’s control. The commissioners set cost-of-living and merit increases and health insurance costs when they adopt the county budget in the spring, and those numbers are added to the board’s budget then.
What is not in the request
The administrator said she is not asking for more travel and training money even though she expects to need it eventually. Board members have not attended a Maryland Alcohol Licensing Association conference in about three years, she said, because the association’s status as an organization is in question and its attorneys are still working that out. The association has not billed the county its $250 annual dues during that time.
Office supplies are also costing more, she said, but she manages those by reviewing accounts each quarter and shifting leftover money. A request for new office chairs is waiting on her desk until she sees what is left in the second quarter.
“I don’t like going to the commissioners and asking for more money,” she said. “We try and live within our means.”
She said the office will continue to offer its alcohol awareness training to licensees at no charge.
The alternate-member proposal
The board’s membership is set by state law, so adding an alternate requires a bill in Annapolis. Local boards typically route such requests through the county commissioners, who decide which proposals to forward to the county’s legislative delegation.
The administrator said she will attend the Nov. 17 meeting to answer questions. She did not put a price on the change and said she would have to work out the cost if it passes. Board members were told they are welcome to attend. The meeting is televised.
The need for a stand-in was visible at the same meeting on a smaller scale: the board’s attorney stepped aside from one case because of a conflict, and a substitute attorney joined by phone. That case was the license transfer for the Red Robin in California.
