Baltimore County executive presents FY2026 proposed budget, pledges no tax increase

County Executive Catherine Klausmeier presented her proposed Baltimore County Fiscal Year 2026 Responsible Budget to the County Council, saying the plan avoids a tax increase while funding schools, public safety, libraries, parks and senior centers.

Klausmeier told the council the budget was developed with department directors, the county administrator’s office and community input, and that it responds to state-level reductions, the end of federal COVID aid, inflation and federal tariffs that are raising costs for the county and residents. "Because of this, we cannot ask Baltimore County residents to pay more taxes, and I'm not going to," she said.

The proposal includes a mix of targeted capital and operating investments. Klausmeier said the budget continues record support for education and provides more than $350,000,000 for school improvements, funds toward long‑awaited Towson and Delaney high schools, and keeps Baltimore County above the state-required minimum funding level for public schools. She said the county would continue the practice of increasing starting pay for first-year teachers, which she described as the highest in the Baltimore region.

Klausmeier outlined higher-education and workforce investments, including more than $27,000,000 for higher education: over $8,000,000 for the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) Essex campus, more than $9,000,000 for the CCBC Catonsville Student Services Center and $2,000,000 for a welding program at CCBC Dundalk intended to prepare workers for Key Bridge reconstruction.

The proposed budget also allocates over $36,000,000 for the public library system, including more than $31,000,000 to advance construction of the Randallstown Library and Recreation Center and roughly $1,000,000 from an equipment financing package to update library vehicles. Klausmeier praised library CEO Sonya Alcantara Antoine for library services countywide.

Public safety investments in the plan include more than $25,000,000 toward replacing the Essex Police Precinct, $6,000,000 for Support Operations Division building improvements, $2,000,000 to enhance security at precincts, and an equipment financing package containing more than $28,000,000 for emergency services equipment. The proposal also provides funding for a new Sparrows Point fire station and said volunteer programs would receive $2,000,000 for medic replacement and an increase in volunteer incentive pay from $35 to $50 per hour.

Transportation and infrastructure allocations cited by Klausmeier include nearly $38,000,000 for resurfacing, curb, gutter and sidewalk projects, and $26,000,000 in county funds for the Waterway Improvement Program — with nearly $8,000,000 for stream restoration, about $2,000,000 for dredging, $4,000,000 for shoreline restoration and $1,000,000 for reforestation and forest maintenance.

Recreation and open-space spending includes nearly $2,000,000 for acquiring and improving parks, more than $6,000,000 for playgrounds and athletic fields and continued investment in new parks and recreation centers. The county also reported a $10,000,000 purchase of an 84-acre waterfront site at the former CP Crane power plant on Carroll Island and proposed more than $3,000,000 in funding for redevelopment of the Pikesville Armory and for arts organizations.

On senior services and housing, the proposal includes $60,000,000 in county funds to complete construction of the North County and Jacksonville senior centers and additional funding for the Cockeysville Senior Center parking lot. The budget would allocate more than $3,000,000 for the Housing Opportunities Fund and continues support for the Westside Baltimore County Redevelopment Authority, which received $750,000 in county and state support this year and a total investment of $2,000,000 to date.

Klausmeier said the budget preserves Baltimore County’s top-tier bond rating, which she described as saving millions for residents, and proposed personnel adjustments intended to support county employees: a minimum midyear 2% cost-of-living adjustment for general government employees or an equivalent, and references to a midyear 3% cost-of-living adjustment in connection with the equipment financing package for emergency services.

Klausmeier closed by thanking county staff, department directors and the county’s budget and finance office for their work on the proposal. She framed the budget as a set of difficult choices intended to maintain services without raising taxes. The document was presented to the council for its review; no formal vote on adoption was recorded in the transcript.