Chaos within the federal government figures to have a big impact in Maryland’s Prince George’s County. About 10% of the jobs in the county are federal ones, never mind all the county residents who might work in government offices located in D.C. and Virginia.
But, what that impact will be just isn’t known yet. And that’s making it hard for the county to figure out how to close a $170 million budget gap, which may or may not grow even bigger in the weeks or months ahead.
“There is a level of uncertainty that I have not seen and I don’t think any of us have seen,” said Stanley Earley, the county office of management and budget director, during a briefing to the county council last week.
Education funding is a big concern, between requirements mandated by the state as well as grant money that comes from the federal government.
“There’s about $300 million of federal grants that go to the Board of Education and those grants are at risk, but to what degree I don’t know. And neither does the board,” he said. “That is a giant issue.”
On top of that, money sent from the federal government to the state and then to the county could also be at risk — potentially hundreds of millions more — that helps cover education, health and housing. Any loss in income tax revenue, which is also a big piece of the county’s budget, would add to the pain in future years.
But on top of the federal uncertainty is the reality that Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s budget puts more pressure on counties around the state as well. More education and other funding that used to come from Annapolis is going to be billed to the county instead, including another roughly $80 million connected to education, Earley said.
“The state has a big problem. They have generously shared that problem with us,” Earley said. “I understand why they had to, but it is difficult.”
He cautioned the county council that “flexibility” will be needed in budget planning going forward, and asked the council to take a conservative stand when it comes to new spending or tax cuts, since it’s not clear what else the county might have to react to.
Members of the council seemed to understand the warnings he was issuing, and made clear they hoped state leaders would see the impact their decisions were going to have.
“What I’m afraid of is the rest of the county budget — DPW&T, DPIE, all the things our residents need, will be dramatically impacted,” said Prince George’s County Council Vice Chair Ed Burroughs.
And with federal grant money far from guaranteed, he added “the state shifting a lot of its cost to the county on top of the Blueprint obligation — we’re being forced to run a county with both hands behind our back and a hope and prayer, not knowing what impact this foolishness in Washington is going to have on us.”
He worried leaders in Annapolis aren’t as in tune to that reality as they need to be, something Prince George’s County Council Chair Jolene Ivey also agreed with.
“It seems to me that we need to tighten our belt beyond where we had planned and that the state is going to be required to be a part of that,” Ivey said.
“Instead of sending us more bills, I think they’re going to have to change how they’re doing things. If they think the schools are required to have $80 million more next year then I guess they can figure out where it comes from but I don’t see where we can come up with $60 million of it on our own.”
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