Council tweaks public campaign financing ordinance after public complaints about earlier budget cut

The Anne Arundel County Council revised its public campaign-financing ordinance (Bill 7-125) on Oct. 6, adopting multiple amendments intended to clarify disbursement timing and give the county additional pathways to restore or supplement the fund outside the annual budget cycle.

Key amendments adopted:

- Amendment 7 (adopted): Changes the controller’s disbursement deadline from three business days to "promptly, but no later than 10 business days," giving county finance staff more time to verify matching contributions.

- Amendment 8 (adopted 3–4; procedural; see below): Allows the council to consider supplementing public campaign-financing funds as an emergency ordinance, which could speed an appropriation if five council votes are secured.

- Amendment 9 (adopted): Permits certified candidates in uncontested elections to receive one-third of the public contribution they would otherwise receive; the council added this to mirror a state provision intended to allow uncontested candidates limited access to funding rather than nothing.

- Amendment 10 (adopted 5–2): Allows the county executive to propose a supplemental appropriation to the public campaign fund at any time up to the commission’s recommended funding level; the amendment preserves the other deficiencies-and-supplement procedure that triggers when the controller identifies shortfalls.

Public comment and controversy: Dozens of witnesses urged the council to restore full funding to the commission’s recommended level after an earlier budget move cut the program’s initial allocation.

Rebecca Forte, a Severna Park resident and public commenter, told the council: "Any attempt to try and determine funding amounts for the public financing system that occurs based on the number of candidates is inherently subject to the bias of the fiscal authority."

The wider context: The public-finance commission had earlier recommended a larger four-year funding level. Council members and the administration said they were working through practical mechanisms for supplementing the program and clarifying processing timeframes to prevent delays in disbursement. Several council members requested additional language to preserve the fund’s integrity and to specify how and when supplemental funds would be made available.