I’m sure all our members join me in thanking the medical professionals, police officers, firefighters, EMS personnel, postal workers and grocery store workers who have served this county, state and nation in these unprecedented times. The lockdown has been hard on everyone, to varying degrees, but it would be impossible to understate the important work carried out daily by the medical professionals and these other groups. We may be near the peak of the crisis for Maryland, but even if the restrictions are eased in the coming weeks, remember that social distancing, washing your hands frequently and other strategies are still the most basic means of self defense until scientists come up with a vaccine.
Elsewhere in this newsletter you will see an article about the newly released fiscal year 2021 budget for Baltimore County. I’m hoping that the County Council will exercise fiscal prudence and not just rubber stamp the budget’s approval because I don’t think this budget fully appreciates the economic downturn that has already started. County Executive Olszewski acknowledged economic conditions in his budget address when he quoted a UC Berkley labor expert who stated we are “definitely headed into something much deeper than the Great Recession, and comparable to the Great Depression.” I hope that labor expert is wrong, but I fear he is not, and yet the County Executive increased some sectors of the county budget, such as education spending, by as much as a four percent increase. In terms of the education budget, he proposes to spend $20 million more than the State-mandated “maintenance of effort.” If approved, this $20 million more will have to be spent again next year, the year after and on an on. When an individual’s budget takes on an unexpected expense, such as unanticipated medical expenses for an operation or a costly automobile accident, you cut back in other areas to make up the unanticipated expense. Why wouldn’t the County do likewise?
Comptroller Peter Franchot estimates that State income taxes alone through June of this year will drop by 22%. He cautioned that this sharp downturn will not jump back immediately. “You can’t just turn the economy back on like a light bulb,” he warned. Yet the County Executive wants to spend more on guidance counselors for schools and he has set aside $24 million more for the “Blueprint for the Future,” also known as the Kirwan recommendations. Another example of the dramatic increase is in the bond indebtedness to pay for increased school construction. As of June 30, 2017, the County owed $519.5 million in debt to pay for school construction, and by June 30, 2020 we will owe $779.5 million, an approximate fifty percent increase in three years. I personally have no issue with spending more on school construction, although the fifty percent increase over a short time span does give me some pause, but I can’t understand increasing the operating budget at a time when things look gloomy. Postpone the hiring of more guidance counselors and forget about the Kirwan recommendations, which have not even been signed into law by the Governor to date. Let’s start living within our means.