Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier said that she will not raise taxes, even as the county is facing an uncertain budget this coming fiscal year.
Klausmeier presented her proposed $5.2 billion budget to the County Council Friday morning.
She told the council they had to craft the spending plan without knowing what’s to come from the federal government in the way of tariffs and cuts to jobs, grants and contracts.
“These uncertainties coupled with increased insurance and utility bills, new state taxes and inflation are already a burden on our families and businesses. Because of this we cannot ask Baltimore County residents to pay more taxes,” Klausmeier said.
The budget includes a mid-year 2% cost of living raise for county employees, $60 million for two new senior centers, $1 million to continue bulk trash collection and $2 million for the Community College of Baltimore County to train people to be welders so they can help rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Klausmeier warned they do not have the money to spend on every worthwhile initiative.
She is proposing a three percent budget increase for Baltimore County public schools, far lower than the 11% bump requested by Superintendent Myriam Rogers.
But Klausmeier said every department was asked to stick to that three-percent line. In an already uncertain fiscal year, the county will also have to pick up a $15 million charge for teacher pensions, a cost that usually falls to the state.
Rogers said the school district needs extra money to cover rising utility costs and teacher raises mandated by a three-year union contract. Cindy Sexton, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County, said they’ll likely have to renegotiate. But she’s not sure what that will look like.
“This has never happened under my term as president,” Sexton told WYPR at Friday’s budget presentation. “In a perfect world, we would get what the superintendent requested, because that definitely helps all five bargaining units.”
The first step, Rogers said, is digging into the specifics of Klausmeier’s proposal.
“We’re going to get to work,” she said.
An example of an initiative that is not going forward, at least for now because of the county’s tight budget, is a library branch for Middle River. Library officials have said getting a branch in the growing Middle River area is a priority, but Klausmeier said the county can’t afford it.
“It broke my heart that we couldn't do it,” Klausmeier said in an interview following her budget message.
The county had been planning to hold down costs by leasing a building for the library, but Klausmeier said it was still too expensive because the county was going to just get the shell of a building and it would have to provide the rest.
“There wouldn’t be floors, there wouldn’t be rugs, there wouldn’t be toilets, there wouldn’t be ceiling lights,” Klausmeier said.
In a statement, the Baltimore County Public Library said it is continuing to explore the possibility of a new Middle River branch, and praised Klausmeier for moving ahead with a $31 million renovation of the Randallstown Library and Recreation Center.
Council Chairman Mike Ertel, a Democrat, said they knew it was going to be a tighter budget this year and that there is not a lot of fat to trim.
“I feel like we’re going to fund everything we need to fund,” Ertel said. “We’re still paving roads, we’re still building firehouses, we’re building two new high schools.”
“This is a very lean budget that finishes a lot of projects and that’s where we need to be focusing,” said Republican Councilman David Marks.
He added as the County Council examines the budget, it will need to look for places to make cuts.
“I think we have to, because the next fiscal year (2027) is going to be much more precarious,” Marks said. “That is where a lot of the danger is.”
County Budget Director Kevin Reed said the spending plan includes a rainy day fund of about $500 million.
Reed said it “will buffer us from any anticipated or further write-downs from the state or the federal government.”
The County Council will hold a public hearing on the budget April 29 and will have a series of hearings with county departments. It is expected to approve Klausmeier’s budget on May 22 and it will take effect July 1.
