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Council Approves Budget and Borrowing Requests

P. Kenneth Burns / WYPR

The Baltimore County Council approved Thursday a $2.9 billion operating budget submitted last month by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz.

The spending plan holds the line on property and income tax rates and includes money for anti-poverty programs.

It also includes a provision that asks voters to approve borrowing nearly half a billion dollars over the next four years for school construction projects as part of Kamenetz’s “Schools for our Future” plan. The $1.1 billion dollar plan relies on bond referendums seeking double – and sometimes triple – the amounts sought in the past as well as state funding.

The borrowing requests will be submitted in increments of $158 million each this fall and in the 2016 and 2018 elections.

County Council Chairwoman Cathy Bevins said the plan is ambitious but also necessary.

“We have some of the oldest schools in the state of Maryland and we need to make sure that we’re funding appropriately,” Bevins said.

Under the plan, school buildings will either be replaced or renovated to eliminate a projected shortage of 1,400 classroom seats in the next decade.  Kamenetz said it would create a surplus of 11,000 classroom seats when he introduced it in April.

Bevins said it is important to upgrade classrooms.

“The green chalkboards are a thing of the past,” she said adding that air-conditioning schools is also important.  “We want, not just the students, but we want our staff to be in a comfortable teaching and learning environment.”

The operating budget provides $2.5 million to build the Eastern Family Resource Center at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center and $4 million for a new Westside Shelter for the homeless on the grounds of Spring Grove State Hospital. The Franklin Square project will provide transitional housing as well as medical care. The Westside project will replace an aging facility.

The budget also contains money for the county’s Homeless Outreach Street Team and the Maryland Food Bank.

In addition to the operating budget, the council approved a $ 175.6 million dollar capital budget and $277.7 million in bond bills.