Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz unveiled his proposed Fiscal Year 2016 budget as part of the annual State of the County address delivered on Tuesday, April 14, in the County Council chambers.
The general fund operating budget proposed is just over $1.9 billion dollars, which represents a 4.7 percent increase over the 2015 budget. Kamenetz said that this figure is within the County Council’s spending affordability guidelines and is accomplished without raising property or income taxes. The capital budget is $375 million.
Specific spending areas seeing an increase include PAYGO contributions, up $32 million; education, with a $46.8 million increase and public safety, with nearly $3.8 million more. An additional $10.8 million in expenses is associated with Kamenetz’s proposal to give all county employees a cost-of-living allowance (COLA) raise of three percent. Certificated Board of Education employees would receive an additional two percent raise.
Within the public safety umbrella, the county will devote $800,000 to add four new medic units to the fire department and $300,000 for two new division chiefs. Subsidies for volunteer EMS providers are increased by $250,000 to almost $2 million to encourage companies to fully staff their medic units.
Sixty percent of the county’s operating budget is devoted to funding schools, colleges and libraries. Although the Division of Library Services is slated to receive a cut of $315,470, education funding would increase by 5.66 percent. Part of that is the $155,334,000 devoted to capital improvement projects in the school system. $16.33 million of that is for roof repair and replacement in county schools, including Middlesex Elementary, Chesapeake High School and Essex Elementary in District 7 and Parkville High School in District 6. Patapsco High School will also receive funding for air conditioning. BCPS’s ongoing digital conversion initiative would receive $5.6 million.
“Once again, County Executive Kamenetz has shown his commitment to Baltimore County Public Schools,” said BCPS Superintendent S. Dallas Dance. “Our partnership has never been stronger.”
And, $2.8 million has been pledged towards building a new elementary school in the northeast area of the county. The initial sum covers design and engineering, and an additional $45.6 million would be spent in fiscal year 2017 to actually construct the school.
“I am very pleased that the county executive listened to the concerns of parents in northeastern Baltimore County and has included money for this desperately-needed new school,” stated Councilman David Marks (R-5), who has championed this project for years in the face of overcrowding in current facilities. “As we have seen recently, there is near-universal support for new schools in the Perry Hall area. Construction of an elementary school is an important step forward.”
PAYGO, or the pay-as-you-go funding system that allows the county to pay cash up-front for projects rather than take out loans, received a lot of attention in Kamenetz’s speech. The budget includes increased PAYGO contributions in anticipation of projects slated for future fiscal years, bringing the funds up to $123.3 million. Another name for PAYGO funds is a fund balance or even a surplus. Kamenetz said that the credit rating agencies look at the fund balance as one of the criteria when assigning credit ratings to the nation’s counties. Baltimore County is one of only 38 counties to receive a triple-A rating from all three rating agencies, and Kamenetz said it is due to our PAYGO practices.
“Some people misunderstand why we keep a fund balance. They would like to use these funds to pay for programs, projects and even pay raises that involve ongoing, recurring costs; but we can’t guarantee surplus funds will be available the next year,” Kamenetz explained. “That is why Baltimore County has always used its fund balance to pay for one-time projects, not ongoing expenses.”
Environmental initiatives across the county continue to receive strong support, even as the Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability sees its funding decrease by just over $230,000. A total of $10.9 million has been allocated for the waterway improvement fund, including money for watershed improvement projects on the east side ($100,000 for the Gunpowder watershed, $250,000 for the Patapsco watershed and $200,000 for the Back River watershed).
Other budget points of interest include an increase in funding of $2.8 million for the Community College of Baltimore County system “to prevent tuition increases,” according to Kamenetz; nearly $25 million towards road resurfacing, with more money allotted in 2017; $330,000 for background checks for recreation council volunteers; $100,000 more for the Department of Social Services for cold weather emergency programs including warming centers, shelters and utility assistance; and money to provide turf fields for Merritt Point Park. The Dundalk Heritage Trail will not receive money in Fiscal Years 2016 or 2017 but is slated to get $1 million in 2018.
The County Council has to approve the budget, and can make changes or cuts to this proposal. It will begin its formal deliberations at a hearing on April 28 at 6 p.m.
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