I have some budget-related questions for you that involve a potential tax rate increase, an effort to hire more police officers, our use of COVID relief money, and a summary of budget items impacting Ward 7.

Budget Schedule

First of all, regarding the schedule, this Monday we are holding a special Council meeting starting at 10AM, rather than our usual 7pm. This is so we can ensure we have adequate time (and alertness!) to go through each of the proposed budget amendments. Once we vote on all of the amendments, the budget will then likely be put up for another public hearing on Friday the 10^th (another unusual meeting time with our meeting starting at 5pm, this is because of a conflict we have on the following Monday), before we hold our final vote at either that meeting or on the 27^th. So, you will have ample opportunity to comment on the amended budget prior to passage.

Ward 7 budget enhancements

I’ll first start with the amendments that would impact Ward 7. I am proposing around a dozen amendments, and the key ones are the following:

1. Creating a special project to install a crosswalk on Edgewood Rd near Yachtsman Way and Tallwood Rd.
2. Enhancing the sidewalk through the Annapolis Maritime Museum’s Moyer Park campus. The existing path is an oyster shell path without any lights. I’ve heard a number of requests to make the path easier to walk on and to install lights. So what I’ve requested is to create a roughly half a million dollar capital improvement project (funded through bonds) to install a smooth surface (ideally permeable) sidewalk in the same location, but then extending it through the parking lot, and to install solar powered lights along the route.
3. Install a new sidewalk on Bay Ridge Rd adjacent to the Shell gas station and running down the street past the nearby church towards Eastport. Currently there is no sidewalk on that side of the road.
4. Secure funding for the Truxtun Park Penguin swim team
5. Eliminating PFAS chemicals from the fire department, protecting the health of our fire-fighters and residents.
6. Provide funding for a consultant to draft an electric mobility plan for the City’s operations, including transit, as well as other infrastructure needed for residents and visitors.

Tax increase? – Structural deficit – Police recruitment enhancements

The other amendment I want to get your thoughts on involves a proposal to increase the tax rate in order to fund police recruitment enhancements. As you may be aware, we have been having difficulty recruiting enough police officers. I know that some don’t want more armed officers, and I myself am wary of this, but the fact is that our current officers are working double shifts to cover for the vacant positions, which is impactful on their ability to do their jobs and our ability to in turn retain officers. What was negotiated with the Police Union, and recommended by the Police Department, is a 20% increase in police salaries to boost recruitment. I support this enhancement as we need to boost recruitment. However, this 20% increase has a significant cost attached to it: $2 million. Keep in mind we have a current and projected budget structural deficit where our expenditures (primarily staff costs) exceed our revenue. The chart below shows how the red expenditure are greater than the green revenue. Currently, this 20% increase is NOT funded through a tax rate increase.

The plan is to balance our budget and pay for the police enhancement without a tax increase, and instead utilize COVID relief money, and the budget proposes to do this until FY25, at which time that money runs out and we will have to make one of two choices: 1. Cut staff/services to reduce expenditures, or 2. figure out how to generate more revenue by either raising taxes or convincing the State to give us a portion of the sales tax collected in Annapolis.

Regarding #1, I’ve been on the Council long enough to know that we’ve already cut most of the easy things that are available, such as contract services, supplies, and training. The only things left to cut are staff, which also means a reduction in services. We could also look at merging our transit system with the County, and/or merging our police and fire departments with the County. These would take time to analyze and determine feasibility.

Regarding #2, raising taxes, we could increase taxes by 3 cents per $100 of assessed value, which would bring in roughly $2,000,000 in revenue and cost the average taxpayer an additional $110 on their annual tax bill. The downsides of this are obvious, but the upsides are that it would cover the police enhancement and help to address our targeted deficit. If we enhance police recruitment without a way to pay for it, it will catch up with us in two years. We saw this happen years ago when we utilized a federal grant to hire half a dozen new firefighters, and then were left holding the ball when the grant ran out in a few years; hence the 6cent tax increase we passed back in I think 2018.

Regarding the sales tax, I’ve already requested a Resolution asking the State to consider giving Annapolis a portion of the sales tax collected in the City.

So my questions are:

1. Should we just use the COVID money to balance our budget and pay for this police recruitment enhancement, WITHOUT any tax increase? The good part would be that this gives us two years to try to figure out how to ultimately fund this and fix the deficit with the options I mentioned earlier: cuts or tax increase. The bad part is it kicks the can down the road as far as solving the underlying problems.
2. Or should we institute a modest tax increase now? The benefit to this is we would then raise the money to fund the police enhancement in a way that doesn't compound and perpetuate the structural deficit. The downside is, well, it's a tax increase and it would cost on average $100 per tax bill. 

I’m asking for your feedback because I have not yet decided what to do. I do have an amendment handy that would increase the tax rate to pay for this police increase. Not because I’m sold on the idea, but because we as a Council, and community, need to have a discussion about this. The Financial Advisory Commission also stated that we need to address this deficit. We need a plan to do so and a plan to pay for the police enhancements long-term. These are the things that we need to address and start discussing, which is why I’m contemplating this amendment.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

I want to give a big thank you to those of you who helped with flyering for the Town Hall meeting. We had a good turnout with some new faces.

There are a few pieces of legislation up for a public hearing tomorrow: one being the budget and the other being an Ordinance that would change our zoning to allow cannibus stores to be opened in the City (pending state law changes to allow more permits). 

Also of note is that the Annapolis Neck Peninsula Federation is hosting a community meeting at the library to discuss the County’s proposed PAL park expansion. The adjacent and downstream community have a few concerns they would like addressed. The community meeting will be on May 31^st at 7pm.

Lastly, I wanted to let you know about a fundraiser supporting the re-election of County Executive Steuart Pittman that will be held in Ward 7, at Caliente Grill on June 7^th at 7pm. This fundraiser is being hosted by former Ward 5 Alderman Jared Littman and our former Ward 7 Alderman Ian Pfieffer. I am proud to support and endorse Pittman for re-election. He has proven more than capable to bring us through COVID, and also lived up to his campaign promises to address over-development in the County. He has absolutely been the best County Executive for the environment since I’ve lived here (in the past 22 years).

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

First of all, I’d like to invite you to our Tuesday Ward 7 Town Hall meeting. This will be held at 7pm at the Eastport-Annapolis Neck Library. The first half of the meeting be a discussion with our Annapolis Police Chief, Edward Jackson, who will be joined by the City Council’s Chair of our Public Safety Committee, Alderwoman Rhonda Pindell-Charles. During the latter half of the meeting, I will give an update on Ward 7 issues, including details on our proposed budget, before being joined by our County Councilwoman Lisa Rodvien. We will then both take questions in an open forum. I hope to see you then! And a big thank you to everyone who has helped with distributing flyers in your neighborhood!

As for our Monday Council meeting, this will be your first opportunity to provide public comments on the budget. I’ve provided details and links below. Other than that, we don’t have much going on at this particular meeting.  

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

Town Hall meeting May 10th 7-8:30pm at the Annapolis-Neck Library

Happy Earth Day! Looks to be a beautiful weekend. I hope you find some time to be outside and take a hike in one of our City Parks.

We don’t have any legislation up for a public hearing at Monday’s Council meeting, but feel free to send me your thoughts on anything listed that’s up for a final vote.

Ward 7 Town Hall meeting!!

After a long pandemic-induced hiatus, I’ve scheduled a Ward 7 Town Hall meeting. Please mark your calendar for May 10^th, 7-8:30pm at the Eastport-Annapolis Neck Library. As usual, I could use help distributing flyers. If you can help with this in your neighborhood, please let me know as this would be a huge help.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

This Monday we will be resuming our in-person Council meetings, just in time for the Mayor’s State-of-the-City remarks and his introduction of the FY23 budget.

Ward 7 Town Hall meeting

After a long pandemic-induced hiatus, I’ve scheduled a Ward 7 Town Hall meeting. Please mark your calendar for May 10^th, 7-8:30pm at the Eastport-Annapolis Neck Library. As usual, I could use help distributing flyers. If you can help with this in your neighborhood, please let me know as this would be a huge help.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

After a few of my remarks, you will find a summary of what’s on the agenda for Monday’s Council meeting. This will be our last virtual meeting.

Recognition of Ward 7’s retired Rear Admiral

Of special note is that we will be providing a Council Citation/recognition of Ward 7 (BayWoods) resident Rear Admiral Guy Shaffer, for his continual contributions to our community. He has been instrumental in getting the effort started to protect Carrs Beach, finding a home for Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB), and supporting the Annapolis Maritime Museum's Moyer Park campus. 

Police Advisory Board nominations needed

The City of Annapolis Mayor’s Office is seeking individuals to serve on the Anne Arundel County Police Accountability Board (PAB), which is being created in compliance with Maryland state law and must be seated by July 1, 2022. The Board creates an opportunity for community members to play a critical role in accountability and transparency in police practices and policy in Anne Arundel County and the City of Annapolis. In addition to reviewing individual cases, Board members may take an active role in serving as liaisons between Annapolis communities, the City of Annapolis, the Annapolis Police Department, the Police Accountability Board and the Administrative Charging Committee. Civilian oversight is an evolving process, as recent events in Anne Arundel and beyond have emphasized the need for resident input in law enforcement and community policing, making the Police Accountability Board’s work more important than ever. If you are interested in serving on this board, please let me know.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

Here’s a summary of what’s on the agenda for Monday’s Council meeting. This will be virtual but I think we are set to resume in person meetings in April.

I’d also like to let you know that I will be scheduling a town hall meeting for probably late April or early May. I’d like to do it outdoors at the Annapolis Maritime campus at Moyer park.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

Good morning!

Hillman Garage & City Dock replacement projects

Tomorrow we will be voting on a Resolution that would express Council support for the execution of the concession agreement with Annapolis Mobility and Resilience Partners, LLC (AMRP) to finance, design, build, operate, and maintain a new parking garage at 150 Gorman Street, the location of the current Hillman Garage. The new garage will expand parking spaces from 525 spaces [CORRECTION – 425 spaces] in the current garage to 590 spaces, and will include improvements such as electric vehicle chargers, gateless entry and exit, robust stormwater management, and parking space availability information. In this scenario, the private partners would be taking on the debt and risk of constructing the new garage, and they would be paying off that debt through the future garage and parking fees. The City would essentially get a payment in lieu of these fees to cover the lost revenue on our end. I have given this considerable thought and I do currently support the proposed public-private partnership. Besides all of the experts on staff and hired by staff being in agreement that this is a good deal, one of the things that helped convince me was when I factored in the point that we really can’t afford to do both the City garage and City dock redevelopment (to adapt to sea level rise) on our own utilizing City bonds. Just one of those projects would put us over our debt ceiling. While I’m sure we will get some help from the State and possibly federal governments, their help likely won’t change this fact. Furthermore, this P3 structure places most of the risk with the private partnership, not with the City or taxpayers.

Campaign to save Carr's Beach in Ward 7

Here is an article by the former Capital Gazette editor-in-chief Rick Hutzell regarding the effort to save Carr's Beach in Ward 7. This is something we have been working on for a while now, so thanks to all of you who have been advocating. Please reach out to your State representatives to ask them to continue fighting for money to help accomplish this goal of preservation.

Hillman Garage Closing for Rebuild in Late March 2022

New Website to Guide Residents and Visitors. AccessAnnapolis.com Provides Information on Parking and Transit Options.

Re-districting of Ward boundaries

Brooks Debose with The Capital has spoken to his editor and they are allowing their stories on the Ward re-districting efforts to be available to the public free-of-charge. So please review and send any comments to the re-districting committee.

Annapolis redistricting task force seeks voter input in first public hearing

Annapolis task force releases three draft redistricting maps for public feedback

Annapolis residents weigh in on proposed ward redistricting maps at public hearing

Environmental internships available

The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the Chesapeake Research Consortium's C-StREAM paid internships provide interns with a $6,000 stipend, a $1,000 housing and transportation allowance, as well as funding for professional development activities such as conferences, training, supplies, and travel which can be extended throughout the following school year! Contact Randy Rowell for more information.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

Good afternoon! I hope you have found an opportunity to get outside today and enjoy this mild weather before winter returns tomorrow! I have a few updates for you along with a Council meeting briefing for Monday.