County Executive Cassilly Urges Fiscal Discipline

Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly released today the following video with an update on the county’s revenue outlook and his plans for the fiscal year 2025 budget.

The video script appears below.

“This is Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly with an update on next year’s budget.
We estimated in January that county revenue would grow by about 5%. Based on this estimate, our preliminary plan was to increase funding for public schools and the sheriff’s office by the same percentage.
Since then, we received income tax revenue distributions from the state for this year that were $13 million less than the prior year.
This was unexpected, but it mirrors what’s happening in all counties statewide. Last week, the state reduced their own revenue estimates by about $255 million for this year and next.
Folks, we cannot ignore our state’s economic reality.
If your household income dropped unexpectedly, you wouldn’t keep spending as usual. Likewise, county government must not spend more than we take in.
I will not raise taxes to balance this budget.
Dipping further into savings is no longer an option - we won’t have enough to cover the shortfall.
This means we’ll be re-evaluating the budget for next year across all agencies.
We all wish it were different, but I will not create a budget based on wishful thinking. I’m responsible for facing the difficulties presented by the national and state economies and protecting our taxpayers from government overspending. And that is exactly what I will do.”