A coalition of progressive groups gathered at the New Carrollton Metro Station Wednesday to put pressure on Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and the Maryland county’s council over the budget that’s currently being discussed.
The news conference was meant to send a message to Alsobrooks, and it was moved from Largo to New Carrollton after her campaign rally was announced. However, it was held on the other side of the station and not visible to supporters of the county executive’s bid for higher office.
“For many people here in Prince George’s County, this day is like any other day, where they still have to wake up and make sure that the rent is paid on time, where people are still struggling to pay other bills,” said Larry Stafford, of Progressive Maryland.
“We’re here for a people’s budget that invests in assistance for people who need help with housing,” Stafford said.
Other advocates demanded that the county find money that would help publicly finance electoral campaigns, a guaranteed income pilot program, and other assistance for seniors.
“Guaranteed basic income. We’re only asking for $2 million for this budget priority,” said Devane Wright, also with Progressive Maryland. “The total ask is not a lot of money, and we want to put our money where our mouth is here and give the community in Prince George’s County something that’s actually going to help them have better quality of life.”
But the argument coming from Alsobrooks’ office is that the county doesn’t have a lot of money to begin with. The county council has passed several new initiatives that require funding, and are considering even more. At the same time, last week Alsobrooks announced that the county would have about $60 million less to spend than originally expected.
But Stafford wasn’t convinced, noting the budget is still bigger than last year’s, and he argued that the county should dig deeper into reserve funds and look to move around money in other parts of the budget.
“Whenever there is a time to find money for something that is a priority, we find money,” Stafford said.
During the rally Wednesday, Alsobrooks noted the state has seen a similar financial downturn and said the differences at the county level were being overblown.
“We are going to pass a budget that reflects our values in Prince George’s County,” Alsobrooks said. “We continue to invest in the things that we share as values. Investing in our elders, investing in our children, growing jobs and opportunity, and we will do that at the same time that we are fiscally responsible.”
All of those were issues Stafford touched on at one point. But where those investments are made, and how much is invested, is what the council is trying to figure out.
A majority of the county support what the progressive groups called “the people’s budget,” but getting the eight votes needed to override any vetoes might not be so easy.
If the council moves money around in the proposed budget, and Alsobrooks uses a line-item veto on some of those decisions, and that veto isn’t overridden, an aide to Alsobrooks said the money would simply go into the general fund until it was allocated in a supplemental budget.
