Tax Hike, Teacher Raise Approved In Anne Arundel County Budget

This story was last updated Wednesday at 5:48 p.m.

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A tax hike and a teacher raise were approved when the Anne Arundel County Council passed the Fiscal Year 2024 budget on Wednesday. There's also a new 25-cent fee for Uber and Lyft riders.

The county's budget is $62 million less this year, however.

The budget passed by a 6 to 1 vote. Shannon Leadbetter (R-District 7) was the only council member to vote against the budget. The County Council has four Democrats and three Republicans. The budget needed four votes to pass.

"When you're paying 30 to 40% more for your groceries than you did 2 years ago and now facing a 47-cent per gallon gas tax that's going to be hitting in July, quite honestly it hurts," Leadbetter said of the budget. "It's crafted through a lens that an ever-expanding government and an ever-expanding role of the government in our citizens' lives is the best solution, and that's an assumption I disagree with."

Leadbetter clarified that she supports the pay raises included in the budget, but she wanted more funded by cutting excess spending rather than raising taxes. She also called for better pay for police officers.

Fellow Republicans Nathan Volke (District 3) and Amanda Fiedler (District 5) voted for the budget but joined Leadbetter in voting against all of the tax increases, which still passed.

Income tax rose for the wealthiest workers. Property taxes went up for everybody. Taxes on home sales jumped for the most valuable properties, and the hotel tax increased as well.

Despite their pushback against the taxes, the GOP council members said the budget was more bipartisan than in years past.

Volke said this is his fifth budget and called it "the smoothest and most collaborative" one. He also thanked Council Chair Pete Smith (D-District 1) for including the Republicans in the decision-making.

"You have given us an ability to feel like we're really part of the process and have some voice and some say," Volke told Smith. "I just want to especially thank you for that because being in the minority, sometimes you step back and you say 'Well, what effect can I really have on this?'"

Smith echoed that sentiment and said all voices are valuable.

"Never judge anybody in their opinion or how they vote," Smith said. "The seven of us have unique lenses from where we come from and neither of them are wrong. We all stand and represent a specific constituency, and I'm grateful for the viewpoints that all seven of us bring to the table."

What's In The Budget?

Teacher salaries were raised by nearly $5,000 to $58,161.

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman (D) said he wanted to pay teachers more to compete with better-paying districts nearby.

"Howard, Montgomery, and Baltimore counties were all coming in at $59,000 and others were in the high 50’s," Pittman said in a June 1 newsletter. "Our $53,262 seemed like a recipe for failure. We need to be close to the top tier."

Anne Arundel is funding these raises by reallocating $3.1 million in cuts proposed by the county auditor. Pittman hopes this will address the almost 200 vacant teaching positions in Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

The Anne Arundel County Public Library will welcome $530,000 for raises, and $130,000 will go toward raises for school nurses.

The budget also added 23 police officer positions, one captain position in the sheriff's office and 18 firefighter positions.

These positions are all new job slots that will be available in addition to the existing vacancies in each department.

The Anne Arundel County Police Department had 766 officer positions, including 22 that were vacant as of May 1. The Anne Arundel County Fire Department also had several vacancies.

The budget additionally funded

• The new police firing range, special operations facility and fusion center
• The new joint 911 call center for the police and fire departments
• $5 million for new fire department equipment
• The new Cape St. Claire and Jessup Fire Stations
• A new fire training academy planned for Generals Highway behind Rams Head Roadhouse

The capital budget added almost $3 million in funding for roadwork and a study on sidewalks on Shore Acres Road.

Another $250,000 will expedite the renovation of the Anne Arundel Community College's tutoring center in Glen Burnie.

There's also $3.3 million to build a tennis bubble at Pasadena's Lake Waterford Park.

Tax Hikes

The income tax rate stayed the same for 98% of residents. It jumped to 3.2% for the top 2% of earners. This hike applies to income over $400,000 for single filers and $480,000 for joint filers.

This tax hike for the wealthiest residents comes a year after the County Council trimmed the tax rate on the first $50,000 of income. That tax cut remains in place. This year's income tax changes only affect the highest earners.

Under this year's budget, the property tax rate rose 4.7 cents to 98 cents per $100.

The tax rate on home sales worth more than $1 million also increased. This rate jumped from 1% to 1.5%. The hike will pay for a new Housing Trust Fund to improve local affordable housing options.

Another tax increase bumped the hotel tax from 7% to 8%. This is still beneath the 9.5% levied on hotel stays in Baltimore City and County, Pittman said.

A final charge added the 25-cent fee to all ride-hailing transactions for services like Uber and Lyft. This money will go directly toward improving county buses.

Pittman and the County Council unanimously put 8% of the budget in the rainy day fund, which serves as the county's in-case-of-emergency savings account. That's up from 7% last year.

The rainy day fund is expected to grow from $132 million on June 30 to $159.2 million by this time next year. That will be an extra $27.2 million in the county's savings account.

The new budget puts about $2.137 billion in the general fund. That's $20.1 million less than last year's operating budget.

This year's capital, or construction, budget will be roughly $530 million. That's down $42 million from last year.

Pittman's office said the budget is balanced and there is no deficit.

This Fiscal Year 2024 budget covers July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.

More information is posted at aacounty.org/budget.