Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. proposed on Tuesday a $2.5 billion budget that avoids increases in property or income taxes and gives cost-of-living raises to teachers and other county employees, though it does include a modest increase in water and sewer rates.
Unlike some other Maryland jurisdictions, Baltimore County envisions no furloughs, layoffs or hiring freezes, and will probably add to its work force in education and public safety in the coming year, officials said.
"This is a lean, mean budget with no pork, but it is also a solid budget that addresses the priorities that will move Baltimore County forward," Smith said.
County Council Chairman Joseph Bartenfelder said he expects only minimal improvement in the economy in 2011 and sees the possibility of midyear cuts to the 2010 budget, which takes effect July 1.
"We are fortunate that we are managing," Bartenfelder said. "But, in these times, we have to continually keep an eye on the budget and work on the next fiscal year."
County homeowners will see a 5 percent increase in water and sewer fees under the proposed budget. A family of four can expect to pay about $26 more annually in sewer fees and about $10 more a year for water service, officials said.
The budget calls for a 2 percent cost-of-living pay increase for county government employees. In the schools, the budget contains money for a 3.5 percent increase for teachers and a 2.4 percent increase for principals and assistant principals.
"It is not only significant, but really amazing that county employees are not facing layoffs and will be given modest increases," said Bartenfelder, a Fullerton-Overlea Democrat.
Last year, teachers protested with demonstrations and a work-to-rule job action after officials said financial constraints kept them from providing cost-of-living pay increases to any employees in the current budget.
The money saved by withholding those raises enabled the county to include in this budget proposal salary increases effective Jan. 1 for its 25,000 employees, officials said. The proposed budget also contains savings of $42 million in retirement benefit funding and $9 million in health benefit funding thanks to restructuring agreed to several years ago by employees unions, officials said.
While many other counties are facing cuts, Baltimore County seems to be weathering the storm well enough to be a model for the state, said Christopher B. Summers, president of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, a research institute based on free-market principles.
