Baltimore County voters this fall will decide whether to expand the County Council, protect the inspector general, and borrow nearly $600 million.
It’s the council expansion ballot question that has fractured the County Council and has some supporters of adding seats now planning to vote against the proposal.
The council vote in July to put the expansion issue on the November ballot has been hailed as historic and overdue.
Although the county’s population has nearly tripled since the charter was established in 1956, the number of council members has remained at seven. The proposal is to increase that to nine.
Council Chairman Izzy Patoka, a Democrat, said it’s the one chance in 70 years to make that change.
Patoka said, “Anybody who has followed the history of Baltimore County (knows) change is very very difficult in our county.”
Supporters believe more seats mean more chances for women and people of color to be elected to a council that is all male and has one African American member. About 30% of the county’s population is Black
But the issue got snarled in a squabble over a district map that the council redrew for nine seats. If the expansion question passes, that map will take effect.
Councilman Pat Young, a Democrat, favors expanding the council, but he said he will now vote “no” on expansion on his general election ballot.
“The map has been a poison pill from the very beginning, and will continue to be so,” Young said.
Young said the County Council had no business drawing that map. He said it shut out the public and that the county charter says redrawing a district map is the job of a redistricting commission.
Julian Jones, a Democrat, agrees. He too will vote against council expansion on his general election ballot after once publicly supporting it.
“The idea that this would be done in a back room with some council members is just appalling,” Jones said.
But Councilman Patoka said Jones and Young changing their minds on supporting the council expansion question show why change is hard to come by in Baltimore County.
“We will come up with convoluted reasons not to make change, not to make positive change,” Patoka said.
Patoka said if the voters approve expanding the council, there will be an opportunity to change the map which will include a redistricting commission and public hearings.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland has threatened litigation over the nine-seat map drawn by the County Council, saying the lack of public input in the process violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
County Executive Johnny Olszewski, who has long supported expanding the County Council, said while he doesn’t like the attached map, he will vote to add two seats to the body.
“Maps can be changed,”Olszewski said. “Changing the charter is much harder.”
Democratic Councilman Mike Ertel and Republicans David Marks and Wade Kach said they will cast their general election ballot in favor of expanding the Council.
“The map is somewhat irrelevant,” Ertel said. “We’re going to have a commission that will look at maps. We’ll hear testimony from all kinds of community groups.”
Republican Todd Crandell, who supported putting the expansion issue on the November ballot, declined to say how he plans to vote in the general election.
However, in an emailed statement, Crandell said he believes increasing the council’s size is unnecessary and only agreed to send the issue to the voters because he was concerned a petition drive to put a proposed four-seat expansion on the ballot would succeed.
That effort failed, so only the two-seat expansion will be on the ballot.
“This was a political stunt designed by council members trying to make themselves look good,” Crandell said. “That’s not the basis for sound policy decisions and the divisiveness this saga created is a shame.”
If approved by the voters, the council expansion will be in place for the 2026 election.
Also on the Baltimore County ballot is a proposal to enshrine in the County Charter the office of inspector general. Since the office was established in 2020, there have been several attempts by council members and County Executive Olszewski to limit its power.
Inspector General Kelly Madigan said putting her office in the charter, which can only be changed by voters, would give it more protection and independence.
“It’s not just the whim of one or two elected officials,” Madigan said. “It will be the will of the Baltimore County taxpayers and citizens and voters.”
Olszewski said he supports protecting the inspector general’s office by putting it in the charter.
Olszewski also backs the nine questions on the ballot that add up to asking voters to sign off on nearly $600 million in borrowing. That’s a couple of hundred million more than voters were asked to approve in 2020 and 2022.
Olszewski said it’s for important projects with about half of it going for schools.
“The other half of that is the road resurfacing, it’s the new senior centers in Jacksonville and North County, it’s the new police station in Essex, it’s the new fire station in Sparrows Point,” Olszewski said. “These are all things the community has come out overwhelmingly for.”
But it comes at a price.
That money has to be paid back. With the state having its own budget problems and federal COVID relief money drying up, Olszewski has warned that in the future the county may need to rein in spending or look to tax increases.
“If the county wants to continue this level of historic investment that we’re very proud of, that we’ve heard overwhelmingly that people want, you have to either pay for that borrowing and pay for those continuing investments or you have to make a choice to slow down those investments,” Olszewski said.
And speaking of the future, most Baltimore County voters will have a hand in determining Olszewski’s. He is running for Maryland's 2nd Congressional District seat against Republican Kim Klacik. If he wins, Olszewski will step down as county executive with two years remaining on his second term.
County voters also will decide whether to limit members of the planning board to three consecutive terms and to make all appointments to the board subject to county council approval.
Currently, the county executive picks eight of the 15 board members. Each council member gets one pick as well.
Mail-in voting is under way. Early in-person voting is from October 24 through October 31.
Election Day, the final day of voting, is November 5.