Baltimore County Council Could Get 2 More Members If Voters Agree

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Baltimore County voters will decide this fall if the County Council should add two more members. The same ballot question will also ask voters if council members should be paid a full-time salary, rather than their current part-time pay.

The Baltimore County Council voted Monday to put a referendum on November's ballot, asking voters if the County Council should expand from seven members to nine. Another group is petitioning to expand the Council to 11 members via a potential competing referendum this fall.

Supporters think expanding the Council will give individual voters more representation. Since the current County Council structure was established in 1956, Baltimore County's population has more than doubled to 845,000 people. With the same number of council members and more constituents to serve, each voter now has less say than when the County Charter was adopted.

Backers also believe this would produce more diverse districts with more diverse candidates than the currently all-male, almost all-white Council.

Randallstown NAACP President Ryan Coleman said "It moves us forward. This is progress."

"This is how you get things done—by compromising and making bridges," Coleman said in a Tuesday press release. "This legislation gives the county hope of more diversity and the efficiency to meet Baltimore County needs."

Opponents agreed with giving voters more representation, but they argued that an 11-person Council would favor Democrats because most of the county's population is concentrated in Democratic areas.

The Baltimore Banner said the measure passed 5 to 1 with Pat Young (D-Catonsville) as the only nay and Julian Jones (D-Woodstock) as the only member not present at the meeting. Young said he voted no because he would prefer 11 council members instead of nine.

"I applaud the decision by Councilmembers to answer our call to empower voters and allow their voices be heard on expanding the County Council -- providing a more responsive and equitable government," Democratic County Executive Johnny Olszewski said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

WYPR reported that the County Council also attached a proposed district map, but some worry there wasn't enough community input to already have suggested precinct boundaries. The proposed map could still be changed by October 2025, however.

"Should voters approve Council expansion, I strongly encourage Councilmembers to provide a more responsive, equitable and inclusive map-drawing process," Olszewski said.

There are four Democrats and three Republicans on the County Council. Because the referendum would amend the county charter, the Council needed five votes to send the ballot question to the voters.

The Banner said the Democrats had to compromise with the Republicans to reach this threshold. The GOP worried the new maps would carve out some of their districts or hurt their election chances. The Republicans all felt comfortable with the compromise and voted for the expansion referendum.

"We needed a sweet spot to make this happen," Council Chair Izzy Patoka (D-Pikesville) told The Banner. "We came up with this configuration."

WYPR reported that it would cost Baltimore County an extra $1.4 million annually in staffing and supplies to add two council members. It would also require a one-time payment of $12.2 million to create offices for each new council member and their team, The Banner said.

Council members would become full-time employees if the resolution passes, bringing an undetermined pay raise. The Banner said the council chair currently makes $77,000 annually, and the other members make $69,000. It's not clear how much full-time council members would make, but Montgomery County's full-time council members earn over $156,000 per year.

Maryland Matters reported that Vote4More is still petitioning for a competing referendum to expand the Council to 11 members. Vote4More Chair Linda Dorsey-Walker said she already has the 10,000 signatures needed to add this question to the ballot, according to WYPR. This second referendum would run alongside the question asking voters if there should be nine council members.

"We have to cut through the crap here. This is about politics. This is about the Democratic Party doing what they do in Maryland, trying to grab more power on the Baltimore County Council," Todd Crandell (R-Dundalk) said of the proposal for 11 council members, according to Maryland Matters.

Young said the proposal for 11 council members is about diversity, not partisanship.

"Over time, there is a resounding theme," Young said, according to Maryland Matters. "We have been historically, with painfully few exceptions, a very white and very male council."