More money for schools and new job positions within the police department are included in a proposed fiscal year 2022 budget for Prince George’s County, Maryland.
The plan unveiled Thursday by County Executive Angela Alsobrooks includes $4.5 billion in operating funds, a 1.3% increase over FY 2021.
Prince George’s County Public Schools would get $2.34 billion, a nearly 3% increase over last year; and $15 million will go toward the public-private partnership that the school system entered into last year to build six new schools.
The budget also includes $335.5 million in law enforcement and social justice investments. The money will allow county police to hire a director of race and equity and two psychologists.
“We will allocate additional resources for two new recruitment classes that will help mitigate department attrition, and the citizen complaint oversight panel will fund stipends for participants of police department disciplinary investigations,” Alsobrooks said.
Despite the challenges that the pandemic has presented for state and local government budgets nationwide, we are making critical and historic investments through our FY 2022 proposed budget. pic.twitter.com/tArbUy6D6f
— County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (@CEXAlsobrooks) March 11, 2021
She also wants to spend $30.1 million to make additions to the health department in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
“We’ve allocated funds for 10 new positions, including three registered nurses for the immunization program, two disease control specialists for the communicable disease program, a safety officer, an auditor to review contracts, and three system analysts for the electronic health record and health information technology systems. These positions will help us immunize more residents in the near term,” Alsobrooks said.
There’s also $401,000 to create a three-person immigrant affairs division within the office of community relations.
Alsobrooks said the county’s stormwater fee would need to be increased “slightly” to address flooding problems, but that won’t be part of this budget. She did said the fee will be increased next fiscal year.
The county council will hold public hearings on the budget before voting to adopt it by or on June 1.
