Five, Mr.

Chair.

Okay.

All right, we'll get started.

Good afternoon.

Uh I will now call this budget deliberation meeting to order.

Like to welcome my council colleagues and staff on this video teleconference.

And also welcome anyone that is viewing or listening to this meeting.

We have we have convened this meeting to identify and vote on the budget submitted by the county executive last month.

The results of this meeting will serve as the basis for our budget adoption and budget bills we will be voting on next Thursday, May 21st at 10 a.m.

Um, I first want to thank acting auditor Liz Irwin and her staff for their tremendous work that have they have put in over the past month.

I know Liz is spending lots of nights where she is not sleeping.

So uh they've really done a great job of of combing through the budget and looking for um different items, asking good questions, and um it's all all in the name of good governance and fiscal responsibility.

Um so they have they've reviewed and analyzed the agency budgets that have come before us for the last few weeks and have greatly assisted in our decision decision making.

Also want to thank CAO D'Andrea Walker, budget director Kevin Reed, and all the agency directors and staffs for their cooperation and working with Liz and her staff in order to get us the information we need to make informed budget decisions.

Um so I guess I put this out to my my colleagues.

Is there any discussion or comments on the budget from the members?

Mr.

Chair, yes, Councilman Jones.

No, I I think that the budget uh certainly looks good, and considering the economic forecast that we uh were presented early on, I think things turned out a lot better than they then we were expecting, for which I'm very grateful.

So I don't necessarily see any cuts on my end.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Councilman Jones.

Um Mr.

Chair.

Yes, Councilman Crandall.

Um thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um I I concur with Councilman Jones.

I think that uh we recognize going into this budget season that uh the numbers were gonna be tight.

And uh of course we're in a non-capital year, so it's not a way for the county executive to kind of play Santa Claus with a lot of capital projects in our district.

But I think that uh if you look at the the capital budget, um there's a I don't say a fair amount of equity um dispersed throughout the county.

Um but we we knew going in that things are gonna be tight, and I think um uh the the budget does a good job in prioritization and uh um and I I agree with the the priorities that are uh set out in the budget.

Um I recall the conversation we had uh yesterday about retirement, and the auditor's office had noticed that there could be a five million dollar cut to retirement, which is an area that we in the past where we we've used to um to cut the budget down to a number that um would uh would make uh that would make the the enable the budget to uh fall within certain guidelines and parameters.

And um I think it was uh a prudent remark by the auditor's office that um just and then by Kevin Reed uh with OBF that you know, cutting something like that just sticks a can down the road.

Uh and that that number is gonna have to be paid for at some point, or our uh retirees uh don't get don't get pensions or at least depensions that uh they work to earn.

So um again, I think it's a prudent budget.

Um I did want to talk about um uh the BCPS.

Um I think BCPS is what about 40 million over maintenance of effort requirement.

And uh that I think you know, in past years we might have looked at at a number like that as being rather exorbitant.

Uh, but then uh we you have to put that that level of funding within the context of the administration, BCPS, CAPCO just went through a labor negotiation.

We all supported getting our teachers paid.

I think as a council, we we all supported that.

So that is a uh another number that maybe in past years that I've been kind of fiscally conservative that I would have uh looked kind of skeptically at, um, but not in this context.

So uh uh I think it's again I think it's a fair budget.

I think it has um uh uh prudent prioritization and uh with those remarks, uh Mr.

Chair, I I have no uh cuts to uh to propose.

Okay, thank you, Councilman Crandall, Mr.

Chairman.

Yes, Councilman Marks.

Thank you very much.

I agree with uh much of what my two colleagues have said.

Um I've been a member of the spending affordability committee for most of my tenure on the council, and I think this year um we provided some flexibility to the administration that helped in at least two very important areas.

First on March 27th, uh the superintendent and the county executive announced um that we'd be able to um uh fill some of the the teacher positions um that we really do need in this budget, and then um uh later on in April, most recently about two weeks ago, uh, the announcement that we're gonna be having new battalion chiefs for our fire department.

Two very good decisions, I think that um will help the county in upcoming years.

Um I'm also very heartened by some of the capital funding we were able to provide in this, which is a non-capital year.

Um I also think it we had some really illuminating um observations during the budget to process the discussions with the agency heads.

In particular, the progress we're making in um filling police vacancies.

Uh, that is, I think an underreported story.