Neuman Makes Case for $1.3B County Budget

County Executive Laura Neuman’s budget for the coming year lays out a series of employee raises that she said were overdue.

Neuman presented her budget Wednesday morning at the Arundel Center to a packed house in the County Council’s chambers. She said this budget would usher in “a fresh start” for Anne Arundel County, one in which people and infrastructure would be given the attention they deserved.

“For too long our county has not made investing in people and infrastructure a priority, and that has resulted in a deteriorating organization,” Neuman said.

The executive began her speech by describing the conditions of the office she inherited from former Executive John R. Leopold. Neuman said the office was “sullen and silent” when she arrived in February, and employees worked in fear that the administration would fire them over the slightest error.

Neuman said it was time to put that fear behind and focus on the future.

“We have all been through a tough period that included economic hardship and scandal, but we have turned that page,” she said. “We will not be defined by a past of scandal and mediocrity.”

Neuman’s total projected budget weighs in at $1,336,187,300—a 7 percent increase over last year’s spending plan.

Under Neuman’s budget proposal, all county employees would receive a 3 percent salary raise, except for school system employees, who would get a 2 percent raise. The compensation increase was for hard work that Neuman said had gone unrewarded in recent years.

“Among my priorities in this budget are to reward hard work,” she said.

Some of the additions in the 2014 budget proposal are:

• Hiring a total of 34 new positions
• An additional $21.3 million to the Board of Education
• $35 million to expand programs at Anne Arundel Community College
• $5.2 million for technology upgrades at the Arundel Center
• Six new police officers, three new school resource officers
• $16 million contribution to county’s rainy day fund
• Additional EMS staffing for Fire Department
• Three new Information Technology positions
• Restoration of three positions in inspections and permits
• Libraries to have expanded hours and technology improvements

A complete look at Neuman’s proposed budget can be found on the county government’s website.

The budget also calls for the purchase of 79 new squad cars for the Anne Arundel County Police Department, all of which would be painted black as a cost-savings measure. The color change would save approximately $3,000 per car, she said.

When Neuman arrived, she said her office had no computer. Among other improvements to the Arundel Center, Neuman is focusing on upgrading and replacing the existing technology, much of which she said was from the 1980s.

The increases proposed in Neuman’s budget would be paid for in part by a nine-tenths of a cent property tax increase, but the revenue projection also banks on what she said would be a recovering economy.

“I believe we are entering a period of economic recovery,” she said.

Anne Arundel County Schools Superintendent Kevin Maxwell issued a statement after Neuman's presentation, saying that he applauded the executive's approach to rewarding employees contributions. However, he said the schools budget was still under-funded.

“While Ms. Neuman’s budget proposal does not fund our school system at the level requested by the Board of Education, it is a responsible and reasonable approach to yet another year in which everyone in our county continues to recover from the economic recession," Maxwell said.

The full budget will next be deliberated by the Anne Arundel County Council, which is scheduled to finalize the spending plan by June 4. A series of public hearings will be held throughout the county in May before a vote is taken.

The first hearing will be May 8 at the Chesapeake Performing Arts Center in Brooklyn Park, and the second will be May 13 at the Arundel Center in Annapolis. Both meetings begin at 7 p.m.