State of the County Address – February 5, 2019

Building on our Success …

Thank you. It is good to be with the Harford County Council this evening, thank

you for being a great partner. I am pleased to report the State of Harford County

is strong and our amazing turnaround story continues and bodes well for our

next term. You know there’s an old saying, “You can’t build on a weak

foundation, but if you have a strong foundation like we have, then you can build

anything on it.” The best proof of this was last month when our Triple-A bond

rating was reaffirmed by all three rating agencies: Moody’s, Fitch and S&P. Our

economy is growing and we have made key investments in education and public

safety in the form of salary increases for our teachers, deputies, correctional

officers and our own county employees, and with the construction of the new
middle-high school in Havre de Grace, while at the same time restoring our fund

balance.

Our assessable base and home values have fully recovered from the depths of

the great recession. Our base is up nearly 11% over its low point in 2014. This

time, as opposed to the boom and bust cycle of the past, I believe our real estate

market is on a more stable and sustainable path, with moderate increases

averaging 2%. This is actually better for the budgets of the County and our

homeowners.
Our income tax revenue also continues to grow at a moderate to strong level,

indicative of a local economy that has low unemployment and rising wages.

Our revenues a few years ago were significantly behind our expenditures. We

were simply spending more than we were taking in. That wasn’t sustainable and

we have reversed it; and we did it all without raising tax rates.

Another key investment was in rebuilding our reserves. Aside from the bond

rating analysts and a few people in my Treasury and Budget offices, no one will

commend you for restoring fund balance.

However, our reserves were nearly depleted just four years ago, and today our

reserves are more than double where they were when I came into office.

A few months ago, these reserves helped us quickly respond to bridge and road

damage without worrying about how we were going to pay for it.
Lastly, on the financial front, I am a follower of some old farmers’ advice, “When

you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you have to do is stop digging.”

The County’s debt nearly tripled in the ten years between 2006 and 2015. I have

changed that trajectory, and only twice in the past 20 years has the County paid

off more on old debt than we have taken on. Both of these times were under my

administration. It does require fiscal discipline and someone has to say “no” to

projects that are nice to have, but not essential.

So you can see why I’m so optimistic headed into the next four years for our

families.

Let me update you on some local economic developments.

Eastgate is still building out a 36 million dollar capital investment and bringing

another 500 new jobs with a million square feet under construction … Abingdon

Woods is expected to bring another 375 acres along I95 to strengthen our

distribution base.

APG - Our great Federal partner is still seeing growth with the Army Futures

Command, tech-based mission growth, and we saw contractor numbers grow last

year. Last year we saw nearly 70 million dollars in contracts awarded to three of

our local companies.

AMMP - Advanced Manufacturing, Materials and Processes, backed by 38 million

in Congressional funding, is aligned with the National Center for Manufacturing

Sciences. AMMP really offers a great opportunity for us to commercialize APG

technology, along with Def Tech Maryland. The Governor has funded an

additional million dollars to assist with the buildout at the Heat Center.

James Run and Bel Air Overlook are moving and will add to residential and small

commercial development.

My administration and every Harford County citizen enjoys a quality of life that is

often taken for granted. The foundations of all strong communities are laid

through the hard work and tireless efforts of our public servants. To that end, I

am extremely pleased to announce that beginning tomorrow we will be kicking off

our Hometown Heroes campaign. Hometown Heroes is a new down payment

assistance program, which will offer up to $5,000 toward closing costs for first
time homebuyers who are our first responders or employed by the Harford

County sheriff’s office, school system or county government.

And we continue to market our Edgewood BRAC Zone and now Federal

Opportunity Zone as we make sure to build for the future in every area of our

beautiful county.

Our Planning and Zoning Department, in partnership with the University of

Maryland PALS program, completed about ten projects this year to help with

planning across a number of county departments, and will continue their work

reviewing Harford Next’s study area in anticipation of making recommendations

for public comment next year. Additionally, I expect the final version of our

Green Infrastructure Plan to be out this spring, which will allow us to use

advanced methodology for a more refined assessment of our highly valuable

environmental areas. For example, we will be designing rain gardens at the

courthouse to manage runoff. Harford Next, our master plan, continues to guide

us for good sustainable growth that places quality over quantity.

I do want to show you a slide of our residential permit growth because I know

both of us are questioned about too much growth, but as you can see our

residential growth has been modest at best since the great recession, and we

have room to do a little better.

Last year at this time, we launched the County’s first EMS surge ambulance and it

has responded to nearly 1,700 calls for service providing the EMS Foundation

and volunteers with a safety net. This is in addition to the County funding close to

an additional million dollars to keep the EMS Foundation solvent. As the number

of second and third due calls continues to increase, we will be staffing our

second unit for deployment this spring to support our volunteer system and

ensure quality care.

As I mentioned earlier, we have dedicated close to all new, ongoing revenue to

public safety and education, and Harford County has always funded our schools

above the maintenance of effort, while for the most part 50 cents of every tax

dollar has gone to education.

I know there are a lot of charts out there but we are number 13 out of 24 Maryland

jurisdictions on local funding dollars to public education.

This does not include the School Resource Officer program we fund through the

Sheriff’s Office. And new funding from the county over the past four years has

outpaced state increases by 4 to 1.

The school board is finally coming to terms with some of the difficult business

decisions just like we made in county government four years ago. Believe me, I

know these decisions are tough, but being proactive on health care costs,

pension and procurement reform does make a difference. For example, in county

government over the past four years we have saved more than $9 million in

procurement alone. That makes money available for other priorities, such as the

superintendent’s proposed increase of $10 million from the County next year.

I do want to recognize Karen Myers who was recently awarded Maryland Public

Purchasing Association Manager of the Year.

We stand ready to assist and do our part in keeping our education system strong

and our teachers supported.

In my role as President of the MD Association of Counties, I’ve had to pick up the

skill of long term forecasting and temper some of the optimism out there with

these possible storm warnings, although I don’t want to become the Rick Ayres

of economic warnings… But we have been on the longest, although modest,

number of months of an economic recovery in our history, and Moody’s is

predicting a slowdown next year. The State has a structural deficit looming next

year of 1.5 billion dollars while their Kirwan Commission recommends 4 billion

dollars in new education spending over ten years, with some calling on counties

to do a 40 or 50 percent match. To put that in perspective, it would force Maryland

counties across the state to raise property taxes on average by 25 cents.

Unsustainable health care increases and prescription costs continue at an

alarming pace. Since the federal government has failed to do anything to solve

this national crisis, I am supporting a statewide effort to at least create a board to

review these increases on the prescription side. Let me share this slide as an

example.
In 2017, we had 72 prescriptions of a drug that cost $9,448 per month for a total

of $680,000, and close to 2 million dollars for 235 prescriptions out of the $6.7

million we incur each year just for medications. You can see now why some

senior citizens and families must choose between their medicine and other

household expenses. So the combination of these developments should give us

pause and remind us to be fiscally prudent as we prepare next year’s County

budget.

OK enough heavy stuff …

As you know, I like to spend as much time on policies to strengthen our families

and communities as I do on everything else. We continue to be resilient in our

battle against the opioid epidemic, and we were recognized by the National

Association of Counties for our efforts. Recovery and redemption is possible.

Every day Harford County is helping families overcome their struggles with drug

addiction and substance use disorder with treatment and recovery resources.

Families like Jacob and Tanisha participated in our Family Recovery Court

program. In partnership with the court and the Harford County Department of

Social Services, our Department of Community Services helped Jacob and

Tanisha achieve sobriety and strengthen their family relationship with their

daughter. Jacob and Tanisha participated in our Second Chance Job Fair at the

Epicenter in Edgewood, resulting in Jacob getting a fulltime job, buying a car,

and starting the expungement process. Their story shows that people and

families can and do recover from drugs and lead fulfilling, law-abiding lives. Like

many of the citizens we are helping that are seeking a second chance, Jacob is a

dedicated employee.

… and then there’s Joe Ryan. Joe Ryan has dedicated 45 years to helping

people, 26 years as a sergeant with the State Police and 19 years as the

administrator of our Office of Drug Control Policy. His efforts have helped Harford

County achieve national acclaim, and to be recognized throughout the State for

our innovative prevention strategies and progressive approaches to addiction

and treatment. One of the greatest challenges of his career has been providing

emergency guidance and support to families with a loved one struggling with

addiction. Due to the opioid epidemic, the demand for his assistance has

increased tenfold over the last two years. Through hundreds of presentations,
programs and one-on-one support, Joe Ryan has touched the lives of thousands

of families in Harford County.

Just last month the Governor announced an additional $750,000 to help build out

our 24/7 Crisis center, which is the first of its kind in the State for addiction and

behavioral health. The hotline and mobile crisis team are already experiencing

the need. The depths of addiction, depression or thoughts of suicide can strike

at any time, night or day. But that is also a window of opportunity when access to

a caring professional and the right resources will save lives.

The hotline has handled 688 calls since October and the mobile crisis team

responded to 138 calls for face-to-face visits, and most importantly to me, 56 of

these were to adolescents 17 years old and under.

I am proud that we are the first county in the United States to contribute to a

planned memorial in honor of Korean War Veterans. Thirty Harford County

citizens gave their lives in that conflict and we have made a contribution for their

names to be inscribed on a Wall of Remembrance to be built at the National Mall

in Washington D.C. I have urged county executives across the state and the

nation to follow Harford’s lead. We are honored to have with us this evening

some local veterans of the Korean War who are working on this effort, so that the

sacrifice of their fellow soldiers will be remembered for generations to come.

We just completed another Project Homeless Connect with the United Way and a

Second Chance Job Fair. Whether it’s through these programs, or through our

disability programs for employment and recreation, or our veterans resource fair,
we are dedicated to those who need a hand up or just shown the way forward.

Our full progress report is available on the county website.

Finally let me share one of the partnerships I’m so pleased with: our Choose

Civility campaign with my friend Mary Hastler with the Harford County Public

Library. In a time when our nation has become paralyzed by those who divide us

by red, blue, race, color, creed or gender, we are hoping to reach for our better

angels so we might be model for the state and nation in our discourse promoting

respect, empathy and tolerance everywhere. As I tell our school children, “Be

kind to every kind,” and simply love one another. I know some of you think this is

naïve or too soft, but I have been through the murder of our deputies, workplace

violence, the opioid epidemic, along with the loss of life in floods and blizzards.

But through all of this, Harford County’s citizens have proven to me that love

always wins. Thank you and God bless.