Message from County Executive Pittman
Dear Anne Arundel County Taxpayer,
When I became County Executive four years ago, I worked with my staff to redesign the budget process around you. We hosted budget town halls - 29 these last four years - and used your priorities to build our budgets. The result was the county’s first-ever Triple A bond rating from Moody’s, and the first budget in many years that has the bipartisan support of all but one member of the County Council.
Dear Anne Arundel County Taxpayer,
When I became County Executive, I worked with my staff to redesign the budget process around you. This year, we continued our partnership with you by hosting 8 budget town halls - one in each Council District, and one virtual meeting in Spanish. Hundreds of you showed up, and even more wrote in to tell us what you wanted funded in the FY24 budget.
Earlier this year, Anne Arundel County was rewarded for years of responsible budgeting with a triple-A bond rating from Fitch Ratings, marking the first time in county history that we have secured a triple-A rating from all three major credit agencies. Our county is in a better fiscal position than ever before, which allowed us to focus on and budget for our future.
Our FY24 budget fully funds the Board of Education’s compensation package for Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) employees. This includes an 8% pay increase for all units, a $5/day raise for substitutes, a 10% COLA for contract bus drivers, and a $2,000 bonus for special educators. We’re also providing funding to raise starting teacher salaries to $58,161, allowing AACPS to compete with neighboring jurisdictions to fill vacancies.
The budget also adds new police, firefighter, and sheriff positions, and provides the tools that our public safety officers need to keep our communities safe with funding for a new Joint 911 Operations Center, new fire stations at Cape St. Claire and Jessup, and a Police Special Operations Facility and Real Time Fusion Center.
Food, housing, and health are also essential investments in our future. We created lifesaving new programs and services in response to the pandemic-driven food lines, evictions, and county warm line calls, and with this budget that work will continue with investments in affordable housing, eviction prevention, food programs, health equity, and mental health care.
Along with these investments, we were able to keep the income tax rate the same for 98% of all county households. Our income and property tax rates remain the lowest in the Central Maryland region, and among the lowest in the state. While paying taxes isn’t optional, I do want to thank you for your investment in our communities. You can read about every line item of spending at aacounty.org/budget.
Thank you for all that you do to make Anne Arundel County The Best Place - For All, and please keep sending me your feedback at countyexecutive@aacounty.org.
Sincerely,
Steuart Pittman - County Executive