By Adam Pagnucco.
Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman has recommended an FY27 operating budget that cuts property tax rates while boosting general fund spending by 7.3%. Anne Arundel County is facing similar economic headwinds as we are. And yet they’re going to cut taxes while we are going to raise them.
First, a note on Pittman. He is no tight-fisted DINO. He has been a progressive county executive during his two terms in office, has triumphed in tight elections over Republicans in 2018 and 2022 and now chairs the state Democratic Party. As he is term limited, this is his last budget. And he is going out with a tax cut.
Pittman’s FY27 budget increases general fund spending by 7.3%, which is higher than Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich’s recommended total operating budget growth of 5.1%. Pittman’s recommended increase for public schools is 7.4%, which is higher than Elrich’s recommended increase for MCPS (5.3%). The distribution of his increases by department is shown below.
Pittman also funds collectively bargained increases of 2.25% in cost of living adjustments (received by all employees) plus step increases. That’s a little less than what most MoCo unions are getting but that’s the outcome so far in Anne Arundel’s collective bargaining process. Pittman is also adding 63 positions, a 1.3% increase in county staffing.
While he is expanding spending faster than MoCo, Pittman is cutting tax rates on both real property and personal property. He is increasing some fees but so is Elrich. His tax cuts are summarized below.
It’s important to note that while Pittman wants to cut rates, assessments are still rising enough to give the county more property tax receipts. His budget estimates that the county’s property tax revenues will be 4.1% higher than the FY26 approved budget despite his rate cuts. MoCo is also seeing rising assessments but our county council is still imposing a net tax increase on homeowners.
How is Pittman able to pull this off? After all, Anne Arundel County is getting battered by the Trump administration just like we are and the federal government’s share of employment in the two counties is not that different. The answer lies in the fact that Anne Arundel’s economic fundamentals have been much stronger than ours for a long time. I could write a series about this (and maybe I will!) but for now let’s just use one statistic from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: total employment growth since 2006 (MoCo’s peak before the Great Recession) and 2024, the most recent year available.
Anne Arundel County
Total employment, 2006: 225,680
Total employment, 2024: 288,447
Change: +28%
Montgomery County
Total employment, 2006: 464,876
Total employment, 2024: 462,298
Change: -1%
Anne Arundel County is proving that you can have progressive governance without regular giant tax hikes so long as you have a strong economy.
Will MoCo’s leaders ever learn this lesson?