Add’l Funding Required to Move Forward

In November 2024, the Leonardtown Planning & Zoning Board approved plans to construct new facilities for the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office. The land, owned by the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County (the county government), the project was approved by Leonardtown’s planning board because it is within town limits.

The county budgeted $41.4M in FY25 for the project, with $40.2M financed through bond sales and the remainder coming from local transfer and excise taxes. For the FY26 budget, the project was split in two phases–Evidence Storage Building and Headquarters Building. At a cost of $28.58M, phase one covers a 15,000 square foot building along with parking, an area for storing evidence vehicles, and total site prep work for the next phase. The 44,860 square foot headquarters building, phase two, is estimated at $12.84M.

FY26 Budget Sheets

David Yingling, deputy county administrator, said the project was split into phases because of reduced bond authority. Yingling retired from the Sheriff’s Office in 2023. The Commissioners request bond authority via state legislation to finance local capital improvements projects. Delegates Matt Morgan (R-29A) and Todd Morgan (R-29C) pushed to reduce the $86M requested by the Commissioners to cover FY26-27. Citing the county’s increasing debt projections through FY31, the delegates wanted the commissioners to curb spending. That action, said Yingling, necessitated adjustments to projects receiving funding over the next two years. One of those changes was splitting the sheriff’s office project, officially.

Projected to satisfy needs through 2040, the project was developed from results of a Sheriff’s Office study and a space needs study across county government. The Sheriff’s Office moved into its current space in the Patuxent Building some time ago, a temporary solution that became more permanent as county priorities shifted and district stations were opened for Sheriff personnel.

The FY26 Budget shows $12.84M already allocated to phase one, and $28.58M allocated for phase two. Donald Mills, acting director of the Dept. of Public Works & Transportation (DPWT), told the Commissioners the extra funding was needed to advertise the construction contract for bids. Mills, along with Yingling, told the Commissioners extra funding was needed because of bad numbers on an initial estimate.

Original costs, determined in 2019, were based on an “average of 25 law-enforcement related construction projects in the mid-Atlantic region.” That “average included average costs for site development,” however, each site has specific characteristics and costs according to a memo prepared for the Commissioners. DPWT completed internal reviews and engaged a “third-party professional construction estimate” to verify accuracy of the original architect’s cost, concluding another $3.85M was needed, bringing phase one’s total to $16.69M. A unanimous vote from Commissioners Guy, Colvin, Hewitt, Alderson, and Ostrow approved $3.85M from the county’s capital reserve account which had $5.1M available as of August 2025.

Another $5.6M was added to the capital reserve account by the Commissioners at their September 30 meeting. County staff analyzed open capital improvement projects to identify allocated funds that were not expected to expense during the project’s current phase or funding that was leftover after a project was completed. Notable amounts included:

$2M from FDR Blvd (under budget)
$1.26M for Public Administration Software
$1.97M from Shannon Farm park development

The Commissioners previously agreed to change the process for allocating funds to capital improvements, directing county staff to analyze projects from a zero based budgeting perspective. Read more about zero based budgeting here.

Like what you read? Click here to support Informed St. Mary’s!

New Sheriff’s HQ

Tractor Supply Leonardtown