The Prince George’s County Council passed a $5.46 billion operating budget in a majority vote Thursday, focusing on priorities such as public safety while faced with limited funding.
Chair Jolene Ivey (District 5) said a $171 million budget shortfall, higher interest rates along with rising inflation and the end of coronavirus pandemic funds meant the council had to be judicious in what it was going to fund for the fiscal year.
“The budget this year and over the next few years is going to be the biggest challenge facing our county,” Ivey said in a statement before the all-Democratic body, comparing the county’s budget process to family accounting. “Families have to plan for the future and save for emergencies, and our county needs to also consider long-term sustainability.”
Ivey’s remarks mirror those of County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D), who proposed a $5.46 billion budget in March while announcing that more than 800 county positions would be frozen. Alsobrooks, who recently won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, said difficult decisions had to be made amid lackluster revenue and increased state mandates for education spending. To avoid raising taxes on county residents, she pivoted to finding new ways to fill the budget gap by securing money from local telecommunications and energy taxes that went to fund schools and dipping into the county’s reserves.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Lateshia Beachum over at The Washington Post
