The Baltimore County Council is poised to pass next year’s $5.2 billion annual budget Thursday afternoon. Heading up to that vote, Council members tried to flex their muscles to force the school system to fully fund raises for teachers.
But in the end, they had to come to terms with the fact that when it comes to the county budget, they have few options.
WYPR’s News Director Matt Bush talked to Baltimore County reporter John Lee about what happened
Bush: What power does the council have when it comes to the budget?
Lee: Not much. The county charter says the council can only cut the county executive’s proposed budget, it cannot increase it or move money around. Pretty straightforward. But this year a couple of councilmen, Republican Wade Kach and Democrat Izzy Patoka, wanted to figure out a way they could put pressure on School Superintendent Myriam Rogers to fully fund a promised pay raise for educators. Kach wanted to hold back or fence off $15 million from the school system, money it saved from unused salaries, until it fully funded the raises.
Kach: “Let’s be a courageous council or a council that stands for something when it comes to budgets. Because all we ever do is sit back, make a few small changes, vote on it, approve it, and we really have no role in the budget whatsoever.”
Lee: Kach wasn’t saying cut the school budget by $15 million. It was more of a carrot and stick approach. You get the cash once you come through with the promised pay raises or at least come close.
Bush: Why are the pay raises an issue?
Lee: The school system reached a deal with the teachers union on a three-year contract. But County Executive Kathy Klausmeier, citing a difficult budget year, did not give the school system the roughly 11 percent in increased spending it asked for. More like 3.5 percent. So that left BCPS scrambling to find around $56 million it needs to pay for raises promised in the upcoming year, which is the second year of the contract.
Bush: Did the county council decide to hold back the $15 million from the school system?
Lee: No, they voted that down four to three and it came after a tortuous two hours of talking about it. There was concern they didn’t have the legal authority to do it. Councilman Julian Jones, a Democrat, questioned whether the council should be messing with BCPS’s budget.
Jones: “Now I’m not against us taking some type of action. I just want to make sure that we’re thoughtful and we don’t do it in a willy nilly fashion. We don’t have a single representative here from the school system.”
Lee: And with that they decided to reach for the bat phone and call School Superintendent Rogers. A few minutes later, once she joined the virtual meeting, Rogers assured council members that her staff is working overtime looking for money in the school budget to pay for the raises. And she cautioned them not to hold back the $15 million.
Rogers: “All of the savings that I’m trying to find right now to increase the compensation package, that would all be gone because I would have to address the $15 million worth of cuts.”
Lee: Rogers also said it wouldn’t send a great message to anyone who might be thinking about working for BCPS if the council withheld the money.
Bush: As you mentioned, the council’s only budget power under the charter is to cut the county executive’s budget. Does it plan to do that?
Lee: Yes, but only a nibble. When the council meets Thursday afternoon to pass the spending plan it plans to cut two projects in the capital budget which total $6.6 million. That’s out of a $5.2 billion budget. So when it comes to how the county spends money, it’s really the county executive who holds most of the cards.
