Lifelong learning is essential for a healthy life, and that is why the fiscal year 2026 general fund operating budget includes $122.8 million for WCPS, $10.7 million for Hagerstown Community College, and $5.5 million for the County’s five ( 5) free public libraries.
COUNTY WORKFORCE
As previously mentioned, our Board is committed to ensuring that our public safety personnel have competitive wages; likewise, the Board is equally committed to ensuring that our entire workforce is healthy, happy and productive by recognizing how dedicated they are to providing the best possible services to our residents.
In fiscal year 2024, the Board began a salary scale realignment that brought the lowest grades on the non-public safety salary scales to the new Maryland minimum wage of $15.00 per hour. This resulted in a compression of the non- public safety grade scale. In fiscal year 2025 and again in fiscal year 2026, the Board approved additional wage increases to employees covered by the non-public safety wages scale to work towards decompressing the scale. The fiscal year 2026 budget provides for a COLA of 1.0%, a step of 2.5% for eligible employees and a decompression of the salary scale
that resulted from the fiscal year 2024 realignment. As part of the salary scale decompression, the fiscal year 2026 budget provides for an additional 1.0%-8.0% for employees in all grades (grades 1-22).
CAPITAL PROJECTS INITIATIVES
The proposed fiscal year 2026 Capital Improvement Plan (Plan) includes new appropriations of $111.8 million to support County projects. The commitment to enhancing and maintaining County infrastructure is reflected in the budget. Some of the notable projects in the $74.7 million general fund Plan include: • $4.6 million for bridge replacements • $40.9 million for a new elementary school and maintenance to existing schools, colleges and libraries. • $5.6 million for parks and recreation improvements at various parks such as Pen Mar Park, Martin Luther King Gymnasium, Mt. Briar Park and Marty Snook Pool and Park. • $8.9 million for public safety projects such as the Tactical Village at the Public Safety Training Center, maintenance and repairs of the detention center and patrol administration buildings, and vehicle and equipment replacements for patrol and emergency services.
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Washington County, Maryland FY2026 County Administrator Message
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