Calling Baltimore County’s dicey fiscal climate unprecedented, officials are not going forward with a new public library for the fast-growing Middle River area.
They said they are worried about the county’s fiscal bottom line.
But Republican Councilman David Marks, who represents Middle River, says it's "a giant middle finger to the Middle River community."
Sameer Sidh, Baltimore County’s senior deputy administrative officer said, “Unemployment in the county just over the past three months has gone up by eight tenths of a percentage point. We’re entering into a federal government shutdown and our largest employer is the Social Security Administration.”
Sidh also pointed out that the Maryland Board of Revenue Estimates last week slightly lowered its projections of how much money the state expects to collect. That could affect Baltimore County and other localities because they get millions in state aid.
“That fiscal climate makes a long term financial investment, like a completely new branch of the library, very tough to swallow at this point when we’re facing pressures just to keep the current operations of government going,” Sidh said.
Middle River residents say having their own library is long overdue.
According to the Baltimore County Public Library, the Middle River area has some of the lowest rates of library card holders in the county. While there are branches in nearby Essex, White Marsh and Perry Hall, data shows people in Middle River are not visiting them.
The library had been discussing a deal with a developer to lease a building for the Middle River library.
More than 1,500 people have signed an online petition asking that the library be built.
Marks said, "The Baltimore County Council is being asked to subsidize development by hundreds of millions of dollars elsewhere, but now pretends to pinch pennies when it comes to Middle River. This is yet another profound disappointment from this administration."
Sidh estimates the cost of the library, including the 35 year lease, equipment and staff salaries, would be $130 million.
In a July 22 letter to library CEO Sonia Alcántara-Antoine, County Executive Kathy Klausmeier proposed a way to save the county money. She suggested that all of the positions for the new Middle River library be filled by people currently on staff elsewhere. Klausmeier estimated that would save the county more than $80 million over the term of the lease.
According to Dakarai Turner, Klausmeier’s press secretary, Alcántara-Antoine never responded to the letter.
Sidh said Klausmeier is committed to stabilizing the county’s finances without raising taxes.
“Saying no is not the fun part of doing this work, but at the same time it’s our responsibility to also mind the finances of the county,” Sidh said.
The county is saying no to Middle River during the same week it celebrated the beginning of a two year, $22 million renovation for the Woodlawn library. Sidh said that project has been discussed for seven years, while the Middle River proposal has only been on the table since January of 2024.
“There are a number of needs throughout our system that we are working to address,” Sidh said. “I don’t know that the need in Middle River is greater than the need in another part of the county.”
In a statement Klausmeier said, “This proposed project would bypass the much-needed replacement of the Essex and Lansdowne library branches, as well as the combined Randallstown library and recreation center—some of which have been in preliminary phases for years.”
