Baltimore County Council members who are running for county executive are scurrying to fix some bad election year optics. It involves previously passed legislation that could fatten their pensions.
The council on Tuesday held two separate public hearings on legislation that likely will lower their pensions.
In 2024, the council passed legislation that would tie how much their pensions are to what council members make in future years.
Rob Daniels, who is running for county executive as an unaffiliated candidate, told the council they were giving themselves a “golden parachute.”
“It allows council members to lock in pension benefits based on raises that they never earned,” Daniels said. “The message that sends to the public is simple and it’s not a good one. You’re on your own. You fight for scraps. But we’re taking care of ourselves.”
Democrat Izzy Patoka, who is running for county executive, is proposing repealing the current pension plan. A vote is expected on Patoka’s legislation Monday.
Council members in 2024 also tucked into a charter amendment about expanding the size of the council, a provision that they would be compensated as though they are full time.
County Councilman Julian Jones, also a Democrat who is running for county executive, says changing the job from part time to full time may cause council salaries to double to $140,000 and that’s too much. Jones wants to go back to the job being considered part time.
Sharonda Dillard-Huffman, who is running for the council on the county’s east side 8th district, said the full time pay attracted her and other candidates of color to the race.
“I can’t do two jobs,” Dillard-Huffman said. “I have a real job. What people don’t understand is people have careers.”
Noting that the candidate filing deadline has passed Dillard-Huffman said, “You are interfering with an election.”
By all accounts, Baltimore County has its most diverse group of council candidates ever running in 2026, but Jones pushed back on the pay being the reason for that.
“I think we probably have so many people running for office because there is going to be seven out of the nine seats are going to be vacant,” Jones said.
Council Chairman Mike Ertel said he knows several candidates who will have to give up government jobs if they are elected to the council so need full time pay.
The county council is expected to vote on Jones’s legislation April 6.
Another chapter in this story is still to come. The county council later this year is expected to vote on recommendations made by the the Personnel and Salary Advisory Board. It’s recommending that council salaries double after the November election, to $140,000 annually. The council chair would make $150,000.
The pension issue was brought to light by former County Administrative Officer Fred Homan. In an interview Homan said he is not buying council members who say they did not know the stars would align to make this big of a pension hike a possibility. He says council members have auditors and lawyers on staff who could have helped them understand the effects of their legislation.
Homan said, “These guys weren’t smart enough to put that all together?” I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that.”
