Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith is urging lawmakers to delete $4 million for county cops in his proposed budget despite a legally binding obligation to include it, police leaders said.
Police leaders blasted Smith for meeting with council members and asking them to remove from his proposed 2009 budget a benefits package awarded to the county?s police union by an arbitrator. The Democrat included the award in a “contingency account” to avoid exceeding a spending cap and force council members to choose between the award and making spending cuts, they said.
“I think it?s really disingenuous on his part,” said Cole Weston, president of the county?s Fraternal Order of Police. “Putting it in the reserve account was clearly a tactic on his part to try to influence the council to not approve it.”
The award includes a new pay step for mid career officers, and smaller benefits such as rechargeable flashlights and replacing Martin Luther King Day and Presidents Day with the Fourth of July as a recognized holiday.
Smith?s budget, with the exception of the contingency account, came within $977 of the 4.56 percent spending increase cap. If the council approves the arbitration award without equivalent spending cuts, the budget will exceed the cap for the first time in the cap?s 17-year history.
Councilman Sam Moxley, a Catonsville Democrat, said Smith funded the award in a reserve account to avoid making cuts himself. Moxley said the council remains undecided on the issue, expressing personal hesitation to fund salary increases for one employee group and not others.
“The county is facing difficult financial times,” Moxley said. “I see both sides.”
The council already has identified about $120,000 in potential cuts, said Council Chairman Kevin Kamenetz, a Pikesville Democrat. Lawmakers may opt to fund some parts of the award but not others, he said.
“I need to see whether there are $4 million in cuts in a very lean budget year,” Kamenetz said.
A request for comment from Smith was not returned by press time.
