Anne Arundel County Executive Pittman unveils FY24 budget proposal
BALTIMORE — Anne Arundel County Executive Pittman announced a comprehensive budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year.
The plan includes a 428-page operating budget and a 53-page capital budget.
The budget proposal, titled "Funding Our Future," addresses a wide range of issues, including education, public safety, and infrastructure.
"We must make conservative assumptions about future revenues and set ourselves up for future economic challenges while also investing in progress, so that our children, our families, our environment, and our institutions will thrive for many years to come," Pittman said.
The proposal takes into account an $88 million market-driven real estate drop in real estate transfer tax revenue, widespread and severe inflation, long-delayed infrastructure needs to accommodate population growth, and the need to increase wages for public servants, particularly in schools.
As part of the budget, the top-earning 2% of taxpayers will see an increased income tax rate of 3.2% on taxable income above $480,000 for joint filers and $400,000 for individual filers. The proposal also calls for an increase in the property tax rate from 93.3 cents to 98 cents per $100 of assessed value.
One of the major areas of focus in the budget is education.
The proposal includes a $76.4 million compensation increase for Board of Education employees, with an 8% increase for all units. In addition, the budget proposes funding for 208 essential new positions, including pre-K staff, English language staff, social-emotional health positions, and more.
Pittman also highlighted the need for continued investment in food security, housing affordability, and public health.
The budget proposal creates a dedicated funding stream for the Anne Arundel County Affordable Housing Trust Fund and allocates $1.6 million for mental health services.
Public safety is another crucial aspect of the proposal, with contracts signed with all public safety bargaining units for a 5% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) plus a 3% merit or step increase.
The plan also includes the addition of 12 new police officer positions.
You can view the full budget overview on the Anne Arundel County website.
