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January 12, 2022
Mayor Gavin Buckley & Annapolis City Council
160 Duke of Gloucester
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Dear Mayor Buckley & members of the Annapolis City Council,
Thank you for your continued service to our City – especially over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we gavel in to the 444th legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly, we write to highlight the successful efforts of our Delegation in the 2021 legislative session and during this interim in supporting the City from a State-level and to share some of our Delegation's priorities for the upcoming legislative session. In the last twelve months, the State has provided the following financial support to the City of Annapolis:
Operating and Capital Budget - 2021 Session (Fiscal Year 2022)
From the outset of the 2021 legislative session the budget outlook for the FY22 Budget was uncertain; however, through the influx of Federal funding and increased revenue projections, revenues ended in a much more financially stable position than anticipated. As members of the Budget and Taxation Committee, Appropriations Committee, and Ways and Means Committee, we were able to secure resources for the City of Annapolis in the FY22 Capital and Operating in the following ways:
Operating Budget
Full Funding of the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) -$765,000
Our Delegation has fought hard to ensure the full-funding of the PILOT in each budget cycle, yet this still remains a political football that the Governor attempts to cut each and every year. While the Board of Public works at the July 1, 2020 meeting cut the funding level back to its pre-2019 levels, our Delegation was successful in fully funding the PILOT at $765,000 for FY22.
Transportation - $1,610,359.37
From our most recent conversations with the Department of Transportation (MDOT), the City received $1,631,455.20 in the form of Highway User Revenues from FY21 and in the
FY22 budget you are slated to receive $1,610,359.37
Police Recruitment and Retention Program (PRAR) - $1,300,000 (statewide) The Annapolis Police Department received a $45,000 grant through the PRAR program to support education bonuses to APD officers.
Capital and Miscellaneous Funding
Annapolis City Dock Stormwater and Flood Mitigation - $1,400,000
(in addition to the $700,000 in FY21, $1,000,000 in FY20, and $2,000,000 in FY19) ∙ Parks and Playgrounds - $1,000,000
Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating — $75,000 for site improvement, and capital equipping of ADA restrooms in the Adaptive Boating Center
Historic Annapolis - $1,710,000 (operating & capital support)
State House Exterior and Grounds Restoration - $2,750,000
Annapolis Maritime Museum - $32,430
Bikeways grants - $224,000 to design an extension and widening of Poplar Trail in the Annapolis area of Anne Arundel County
Overhead Utilities Undergrounding - $250,000
Robert Eades Park - $200,000 (State Revitalization Program)
Rental Housing Works - $42,000,000 (Statewide)
(this program provides tax credits up to $2.5 million for affordable housing projects such as Newtowne 20)
Baltimore Regional Neighborhoods Initiative - $6,000,000 (Statewide)
Legislative Bond Initiatives
Each member of the General Assembly is permitted to sponsor Legislative Bond Initiatives (LBI) to provide critical capital funding for local organizations. Our delegation focused on sponsoring LBIs for organizations that may have not received recent State support and for projects in which this funding would represent the “last money in” to ensure that the State’s investment can be maximized for the greatest good. We are excited to report that last session we sponsored and successfully funded all six of our introduced LBIs. These LBIs include funding for improvements to the following Annapolis institutions:
∙ Stanton Community Center - $600,000
∙ Brewer Hill Cemetery - $100,000
∙ Banneker Douglass Museum - $75,000
∙ Peerless Rens - $75,000
∙ Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) Park - $45,000 (serving City residents)
∙ Chesapeake Children’s Museum - $25,000
2021 Legislative Accomplishments:
Our delegation sponsored and successfully passed the following local bills:
House Bill 901/Senate Bill 529 - Anne Arundel County - Hotel Tax Alterations - Distribution of Revenue
The new law does two critically important things: 1) ensures that there are additional oversight measures in place for both the County and City to fulfill their fiduciary responsibility of taxpayer dollars that are provided to the Anne Arundel County Conference and Visitors Bureau; and, 2) creates a dedicated funding mechanism for the City’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund and Arts in Public Places Commission.
House Bill 933/ Senate Bill 566 - Anne Arundel County - Transfer Tax - Housing Trust Special Revenue Fund
This legislation authorized the County to create a Housing Trust fund with revenue from the County Transfer Tax on real estate transactions over $1,000,000 – while the Trust Fund would be at a County-level, this will also assist Annapolitans in the pursuit of affordable housing.
Session 2022 Outlook
We remain committed to fighting for the City of Annapolis through legislation and in the State Budget. We are hopeful that your priorities that were sent to the Governor in your August 31st letter will be included in his Budget, and we will follow-up with the City as soon as we are in receipt of the Budget on January 19th to ensure you are aware of funding included.
In addition, our delegation is committed to fighting for the following Budget priorities this legislative session:
∙ Full-funding of the PILOT (including the adjustment for inflation)
∙ Increased or at least a maintenance of funding to Police Recruitment and Retention program
∙ Assistance to APD in implementation of the body camera program
∙ Increased funding to the Rental Housing Works program
∙ Protection of the local-share of Highway User Revenues
Thank you for your continued partnership in this work. We will send an email on January 19th outlining the Governor’s Budget and look forward to working with you to bring the most support home to the Capital City over the next 90 days.
Senator Sarah Elfreth
Delegate Shaneka Henson
