Kamenetz Holds The Line On Property, Income Taxes

UPDATED (10:29 a.m.)—Baltimore County residents will not have to dig deeper for local taxes again this year under a budget proposed by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz.

Kamenetz is expected to introduce his third county budget to the Baltimore County Council at 10 a.m. The proposed $2.8 billion operating budget will contain no increases in property or income taxes for the budget year that begins July 1.

The county has not raised property taxes in 25 years. The county income tax rate has not been raised in 21 years.

But Kamenetz's spending plan is larger than the limit set in January by the County Council's Spending Affordability Committee.

That committee in January set the limit for ongoing costs subject to spending guidelines at $1.675 billion.

Kamenetz's budget as proposed contains $1.684 billion in spending for ongoing costs.

County officials Monday attributed the increase to recently approved spending for post-retirement benefits for county employes. The appropriation increased the limit set in January by about $9 million.

Kamenetz said Monday that his plan meets the revised spending guideline.

The committee was established in 1991 and is charged with looking at economic factors that affect the county budget and then set a limit on spending for the coming year. The council has never approved a budget that exceeded the spending limit set by its Spending Affordability Committee.

The proposed budget contains no cost of living increases for county employees but will fund longevity and incremental increases for eligible employees.

Funding for county schools continues to rule the budget with 53 cents of every county tax dollar going to K-12 education.

Included school spending in the proposed budget includes:

• $200 million in proposed spending for county school construction and renovation. That number includes $149 million in county money and $35 million in funding from the state. The county is also hoping to secure an additional $15 million from the state for air conditioning upgrades to county schools from a pot of $25 million for all schools in Maryland.
• Adds 109 teaching positions for county schools as a result of expected enrollment increases. In 2011, then-Superintendent Joe A. Hairston eliminated 200 teaching positions. 
• $4 million for first phase of a multi-year plan to spend $15 million to upgrade school classrooms to support wi-fi and other digital upgrades.
• $2.5 million for the county's school safety and security plan. The money will pay for school identification badges for students and faculty. The swipe to enter system will also allow students to pay for their lunches and check out books from the school library, Kamenetz said during a briefing Friday.
• Funding for six school resource officers. The budget request would mean that all county high and middle schools would have a Baltimore County Police Officer working as a resource officer.

Kamenetz's spending plan also includes increases for the police and fire departments.

The police department will see its budget increase by $4 million to $192 million.

Kamenetz also proposes to spend $91 for the fire department including $7 million in grants and in-kind services for county volunteer fire companies. His spending plan also includes plans to equip every county ambulance with a mobile hotspot to allow crews to have instant access to data collected by the 911 center.

Finally, Kamenetz's proposed spending plan calls for more than $20 million for recreation projects around the county.