Some politicians pretend that they can give you something for nothing - that they can somehow deliver both lower taxes and increased spending at the same time. Their trick is to make the numbers balance in the short term, but to defer expenses until after they leave office.

For many years, that's what happened in Anne Arundel County. We were told that if we spurred development, the growth in tax revenues would keep our rates low. What they didn't tell us was that demand for services would grow much faster than revenue.

Last year, at seven Budget Town Halls, you told us to make a correction. You told us that we needed more teachers, more police, more firefighters, and more public infrastructure. We told you what things cost and what our tax base could deliver at its current rate, and with rate adjustments.

We listened - to you, to our public servants, to our school board, and to our number-crunchers in the budget office. We ended up with a budget that will have delivered on much of what you asked for by the end of the fiscal year: 140 new teachers, 35 school counselors, 50 special ed teachers, ninety-eight new police officers, seventy new firefighters, and revenue to cover debt service on $250 million in new permanent public improvements.

To pay for all of that, our property tax rate rose modestly from 90 cents to 93.5 cents - the exact level the rate would be if previous county leaders had not arbitrarily lowered it three times. Our current rate is still 6.5 cents lower than it was in 1990 and ranks 5th lowest of Maryland's 24 counties.

Last year, we set our local income tax rate at 2.81%. Exactly half of Maryland counties tax at the legal maximum of 3.2%, and the only three counties with a lower rate than us are rural counties in Western Maryland or on the Eastern Shore.

I am proud that our tax rates are still among the lowest in the state, but it frustrates me that Maryland law requires us to tax at a flat rate, preventing us from protecting our lowest income residents and retirees with lower rates. It didn't use to be that way, so I am working with state legislators and other county leaders to give counties that authority.

The purpose of this budget tool is to give you a snapshot of where we stand in planning the FY21 budget, and allow you to see the fiscal impact of any cuts or additional spending that you'd like to make. We also want to know what your spending priorities are, so we've included a place for you to prioritize them.

The county charter requires that I hold two public budget meetings before we introduce a budget. We don't think that's enough, so we are holding seven - one in each County Council District.

Please join us. It's your money. It's our collective budget. Be heard.