The county council in Prince George’s County, Maryland will soon see the county executive’s plans for the budget in fiscal year 2017.
The $3.7 billion budget proposed by County Executive Rushern L. Baker III is an increase of $160.8 million from the previous budget year.
Baker said growth in both property and income tax revenues left the county with a $64 million budget hole, the smallest deficit he has had to face while on the job.
“I have been waiting five years for this to happen,” Baker said.
In the area of education, there is $1.93 billion set aside for the Board of Education. This is a $93 million increase over the previous budget year, but it’s also $100 million less than requested by schools chief executive Kevin Maxwell.
“We’re totally in agreement on where we would like to get to, but in this budget he [Baker] has exceeded maintenance of effort requirement by the county by almost four times,” Maxwell said.
Of the money set aside for schools, $5.7 million will come from revenue received from MGM National Harbor casino, which Baker hopes to see open halfway through 2017.
The budget also includes $106 million for Prince George’s Community College and $27 million for the Memorial Library system.
In the area of public safety, Baker allotted money to beef up the county’s fire and police departments. Prince George’s County police will see a budget increase of $13 million, which will allow for 150 new recruits if Baker’s plan is approved by council. The plan also calls for $11 million more this year for the Fire and EMS Department, which will make it possible to bring 70 new first responders on board.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Mike Murillo over at WTOP