JOHN A. OLSZEWSKI, JR. County Executive April 15, 2021 Council Chairman Jones, members of the County Council, and all residents of Baltimore County: Thank you for joining us this morning, as I present Baltimore County’s Fiscal Year 2022 Budget, which comes at what we believe is a turning point in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Our ability to gather in-person, even with limitations, is a testament to that hope. Last year, the pandemic and all its uncertainty required that our budget presentation be conducted in a fully virtual environment. While we still have work to do in order to defeat the COVID-19 virus, our collective efforts have been making a difference, and it is an honor to return to the council chambers to present our proposed budget this year. Our progress in the fight against COVID-19 has been bolstered by a strong partnership between my administration and the County Council. I’d like to thank all of the Councilmembers for your partnership, as we worked together closely to respond to this unprecedented crisis. We’re here because we love this county, and we believe in the power of public service to improve the lives of others. Amid a global pandemic, that belief has never been more important, and we should all be proud of what we have done to support our residents in these challenging times. By working together, and in a bipartisan fashion, we have accomplished a lot over these two years, despite the challenges we have faced. The Challenges We Faced And we have faced our share of challenges in Baltimore County over these two years. In our first budget, we worked together to close an inherited structural deficit of $81 million. We took critical steps to reform county government, right our fiscal ship, and strengthen our communities. We created a Commission on Fiscal Sustainability, adopted more sustainable budgeting practices, and increased transparency with new public data dashboards, like our “Open Checkbook” app, which allows residents to track County spending down to the individual expenditure. Last year, because of our efforts, we were on stronger fiscal footing and we were positioned to build on our progress. But in the midst of our budget planning efforts, the COVID-19 pandemic struck and completely upended our way of life. Anticipating an economic downturn, we cut $100 million from our budget and focused on the essentials: education, public safety, and those critical services our residents depend on. Thanks to our efforts, even as Baltimore County was tested with a structural deficit and a global pandemic, we have retained our “Triple - A” Bond Rating – a top-tier financial rating that fewer than 2 percent of all counties enjoy nationwide. i Response to COVID-19 In this past year, we’ve seen incredible needs in our communities. Times of crisis require a bold response, so we took unprecedented actions to support our residents. I’m particularly proud of our Baltimore County employees who rose to the occasion and stepped into new roles to meet this need. Indeed, since this crisis began, we have prioritized efforts to strengthen the safety net for our residents. In partnership with Baltimore County Public Schools, and with support from the Maryland Food Bank, we have provided more than 16 million meals to our residents. The Baltimore County Public Library and the Baltimore County Department of Aging also joined the effort to make sure no resident goes hungry. Using our CARES Act funds, we created eviction prevention programs that have distributed nearly $7.5 million to help more than 1,500 families stay in their homes. One recipient was a senior who was four months behind in rent due to the loss of her part-time job. Another was a small business owner who had to shut her business from March to July 2020. Even though they later returned to work, they fell behind on rent. We are proud to have helped them stay in their homes amid these challenging times. In the coming months, we will serve more families in need. We have allocated another $3 million in state funding and $49 million in federal funds to help thousands of residents stay in their homes. In addition, we will plan to invest in support services including tenant counseling, legal services, and financial navigation. We have also taken steps to close the digital divide. As more people began working from home and students began virtual learning, we worked with Comcast to provide Internet Essentials free of cost to thousands of families who needed assistance. In addition, we created a child care subsidy program for low-income families with school-aged children, as well as a similar program for County employees. Our business community also faced unprecedented challenges this year. To support our businesses, we have awarded more than $25 million across six grant programs, with more than 1,450 individual grants. That includes millions of dollars to support our restaurants, small businesses, and chambers of commerce. 35 percent of all of our business grant awards have gone to minority and women-owned businesses, far exceeding the County’s goal of 15 percent. I’d like to thank the members of our Congressional Delegation who helped pass the CARES Act last year, which made these efforts possible. Thanks to this assistance, we were able to quickly and effectively stand up operations that Baltimore County had never before done at this scale. Now, as we look forward, there’s even more reason for optimism. Thanks to the Biden Administration and our Congressional Delegation, Baltimore County will receive around $160 million as part of the American Rescue Plan. We’re grateful for this investment in our communities, and we look forward to continuing our work together. In March, we established an economic recovery subcabinet and held roundtable discussions to develop a plan for allocating these funds efficiently and effectively. Chaired by Leonard Howie, our director of Economic and Workforce Development, and including representatives from across county government, this group is focused ii on how best to spend those precious dollars, focusing on three priority areas: individuals and families; small businesses, and workforce recovery. A Collaborative Effort The budget today is the result of a collaborative effort, the culmination of months of planning, community outreach, and hard work. I want to thank our County Administrative Officer, Stacy Rodgers, our Budget Director Ed Blades, our Department Heads and our County staff for their hard work in crafting this budget. Once again, we held our trademark Town Hall series – virtually, this time – and we engaged residents from every council district in a conversation about the needs in our communities. And throughout this pandemic, we initiated stakeholder roundtables with businesses, nonprofits, and community groups across Baltimore County. I want to thank all of those who shared their priorities with us. Through these conversations, we set shared priorities: continued support for education, robust investment in open space, and new, innovative programs to support businesses and workers who struggled through this crisis. Our budget advances these goals, and more. Roadmap to Recovery In the first days of this pandemic, none of us could have foreseen the impact of this crisis, or the way it would completely change our way of life. Our world was disrupted in so many ways, as classrooms moved online and businesses moved to the curbside. Now, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Baltimore County has consistently lead the way among local jurisdictions in vaccine distribution, having been called the best run operation in the state of Maryland and a national model. Thanks to these vaccines, and to the hard work of our frontline public health workers, we will soon be able to return to our normal way of life. But as we do so, we must remember that so many of the challenges we faced before the pandemic not only persist, but in many cases, have been magnified. That’s why we are making a concerted effort to address the disparities that have always been there. We are not seeking to just rebuild our economy. We will improve it. Education That begins with continuing our commitment to education. In our first year in office, we provided record funding for education, increasing our support for our schools by the largest year-over-year amount in the county’s history. Last year, we protected those gains, even as we faced budget constraints at the onset of an economic crisis. This year, we continue making progress, striving towards our goal of a world class school system for every student in Baltimore County. Right now is a critical time for so many of our students and educators, who have lost a year in the classroom because of COVID. Virtual learning presented new and unique challenges for students, educators, and parents, who had to play an even greater role in their child’s education. These challenges were further compounded by a ransomware attack. iii Now, as we plan for our children’s’ future – and the future of the County – we have an obligation to do more. As we gradually and safely reopen our schools for hybrid and in-person learning, it’s critical that we equip our students and educators with the resources they need to stay safe, and to overcome the struggles of the past year. We knew that additional resources were needed for our classrooms even before the pandemic hit, particularly in communities that have been historically disadvantaged and faced some of the worst outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic. Disparities in education lead to disparities later in life.