Harford Executive Vetoes Unlawful Union-Backed Bill 25-012 Requiring Binding Arbitration

Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly has vetoed legislation that imposes unlawful and costly binding arbitration by out-of-county entities to resolve county government employment disputes. Bill 25-012 conflicts with the County Charter, which exclusively assigns final resolution authority to the citizen-led Personnel Advisory Board at no cost to taxpayers.

County Executive Cassilly’s veto message, delivered to the County Council earlier today, reads in part:

“Bill 25-012 prioritizes special interests over County taxpayers, hands significant authority over important local matters to unelected, costly, out-of-county arbitrators, unnecessarily introduces conflict and expense into existing County workforce processes that have created a harmonious work environment, inserts binding arbitration into a process that has long been effectively handled by the citizen-led Personnel Advisory Board (“PAB”) at no cost to taxpayers, and exposes the County to litigation, escalating costs, and reduced accountability. Most importantly, Bill 25-012 violates the County Charter in several ways, most notably because the Charter establishes the PAB as the exclusive final authority on such matters, yet this Bill imposes binding arbitration as the new final authority. There simply cannot be two final authorities, and Council members and I have sworn to uphold the Charter.”

In addition, the Council President’s conflict of interest involving this legislation is cited in the County Executive’s full veto message, which is attached.