PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – On Monday night, Princess Anne commissioners approved a budget that leaves the town with a deficit. It has led to a lot of shock and confusion among neighbors and town leaders, who are still trying to digest the decision.
The motion narrowly passed by one vote, and many people in town feel the choice favors the few, not the many.
Commissioner Joseph Gardner was one of the dissenting votes. He told us the decision goes against the town charter, because the majority of commissioners knowingly passed a budget, officially known as ARP Budget #2, that will leave them in a deficit.
“As stewards of our taxpayers money we should really be careful and take the time for everybody to look and ask questions about any kind of proposals that we have,” said Gardner. “This was a very important proposal, it’s money that we’ve been fortunate enough to get and keep through ARP(American Rescue Plan Act).”
The other proposal on the table, officially known as ARP Budget #1, would have given the town a surplus of $79,658. Princess Anne had $250,000 left in ARP funds, and ARP Budget #1 would have allocated $233,646 to already approved town expenses.
“We had a big nice chunk of it[ARP funds] left that we needed to figure out what could be done with it, and it just comes down to simple math,” said Gardner.
After a 3-2 vote, the town went in a different direction.
Small businesses and minority owned small businesses will benefit from the decision, because the chosen budget allocates an extra $225,000 in grant money for those businesses.
Dale Parker, co-owner of CROPA Station, supports the new budget and told WBOC he has a bigger picture in mind.
“Invest in our community, invest in our people, invest in our entrepreneurs,” said Parker. “Our community is one of the most impoverished communities in the state of Maryland, and in the country, we’ve got to do something to change that.”
The adopted budget will fund two sets of grants: $125,000 for Business Assistance Grants and $250,000 for Minority Business Assistance Grants.
Breakdown:
Business Assistance Grants: $2,500 each for 50 business applications
Minority Business Assistance Grants: $10,000 for 25 applications
“We’ll benefit, the community will benefit, and the town at large will benefit in a longer term scheme of things, that’s what we’re fighting for,” said Parker.
There wasn’t much pushback on Monday night to businesses being able to benefit from these grants. What neighbors and some town leaders are concerned with is which businesses will benefit.
Commission President Lionel Frederick and Commission Vice President Shelley Johnson both own small businesses in town. Neither recused themselves from Monday’s vote and did not give WBOC a clear answer when asked if they would apply for these grants.
“It’s absolutely an ethical issue,” said Gardner. “It states in every ethics code we have, the town has an ethics code and I can refer to that if you’d like, but it basically says you cannot vote for something that you are going to financially or personally gain from.”
Frederick told us on Tuesday the town has no further comment and this matter is behind them.
WBOC did reach out to Maryland’s Ethics Commission. It told us it doesn’t have jurisdiction over local governments. However, the State Prosecutor told us if his office receives a complaint alleging a crime has been committed in regards to Maryland Statutes Criminal Procedure Section 14-107, that office does have the jurisdiction to investigate.
