School board adopts 2025 budget
$1.72B operating plan funds more positions, adds 2% to pay increases
The Anne Arundel County Board of Education adopted its fiscal 2025 operating and capital budget requests during a meeting Wednesday night.
The $1.72 billion operating budget was approved by a vote of 6 to 2, with board members Corine Frank, of District 3, and Michelle Corkadel, of District 7, voting against. The $235 million capital budget passed unanimously.
The board made several adjustments to Superintendent of Schools Mark Bedell’s initial budget request from December, including adding a 2% costof-living hike on top of a 3% rise Bedell already had introduced that goes into effect July 1. The second COLA kicks in Jan. 1, 2025.
The board also reallocated funding for 18 instructional staffing positions in special education and English language development.
“This is a way to ease the funding of this additional COLA,” said school board member Joanna Bache Tobin, who represents District 6. “By taking effect in January rather than July 2024, It would essentially offer a net total 4% COLA to employees over the coming year, while setting our employees up to receive a 5% COLA by the time the next budget cycle begins, thus starting them at a higher compensation point.”
Bache Tobin and other board members referenced prior testimony from teachers and other employees who made it clear that the initial recommended increase was not going to be sufficient.
“While I am concerned about the effects on all our employees, I am particularly worried about the impact on our food service workers, our custodians, our TSAs and our TAs,” Bache Tobin said. “As discussed here before, many of these employees still do not make a living wage and yet these are precisely the positions that provide some of the most critical support for our students, particularly our most vulnerable.”
The support for the new COLA wasn’t unanimous among the board members. Frank and District 4 member Melissa Ellis said the initial recommended increase was enough.
“I have been a strong advocate for our teachers and staff,” Ellis said. “I came out pushing when I started here, pushing to close the pay gap, and I am proud of the work we did there. But
the potential lost revenue to counties at $250 million, Guzzone said.
Property taxes are a primary funding source for local governments, making it possible to spend on everything from education and local public transit. In Baltimore County, the taxes make up about 45% of the $2.5 billion general fund revenue in the current 2024 fiscal year, according to county budget documents.
Higgs said those who missed their notices should receive them in the coming weeks.
Those property owners will then have the full 45-day period to appeal to SDAT, he said.
“The legislation will ensure that the state reassessment can be completed fairly and accurately and that all appropriate revenues are collected,” Higgs said in the statement.
Higgs’ office did not respond to questions about where the 107,000 properties are located across the state or whether the director would be available for an interview. His statement said the unsent notices were the result of a printing and mailing error by a vendor, the League for People with Disabilities. That vendor has been paid about $151,000 so far this year and $2.1 million in the last decade for SDAT services, according to Maryland’s spending transparency portal.
Statewide, total assessed value on the 767,226 residential and commercial properties rose 23.4% for 2024 — a jump from 20.6% on another third of Maryland properties in 2023.
In Baltimore City, the average 19.4% increase on homes and 16% increase on commercial properties were both below the statewide average of 25.6% and 17.6%, respectively.
In Baltimore County, the residential increases were higher — 26.2% — while the increases on commercial properties were lower, at 14.4%.
State law caps the taxable portion of any property assessment increase at 10% annually. Many local governments have adopted further restrictions, like Baltimore City and Baltimore County’s 4% cap on taxable assessments annually.
Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., a Democrat who is also the president of the Maryland Association of Counties, in a statement highlighted the need for local governments to receive the higher property tax revenues from those reassessments.
“This news is alarming, but we are thankful that legislative leaders have already signaled their intentions to take swift action on this issue,” he said. “It’s critical we ensure local jurisdictions receive their fair share of revenues so that we can remain focused on delivering the core services that our shared residents rely on and expect.”
A spokesperson for Olszewski did not have information about how many properties the problem affected in the county. A spokesperson for Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, a Democrat, did not return an immediate request for comment Thursday. Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman’s office declined to comment, including on the potential number of property owners affected in the county.
Guzzone said it was not clear when the Maryland General Assembly, which is in session through April 8, may consider the legislation to fix the deadline issue.
House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, a Baltimore County Democrat, in a statement indicated lawmakers will also look at potential changes at the agency in charge of assessments to prevent similar problems in the future.
“We are still collecting the details on the full extent of this issue,” Jones said. “We take the effects of the delayed assessments very seriously, and the House is looking at all our options to ensure that our counties are not left to deal with the potential revenue shortages. As members of my leadership team have suggested, we will also look at reforms to SDAT, so this will not happen again.”