Despite requests from residents last week for Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly to increase taxes to avoid cuts to the public schools’ budget, Cassilly said he won’t raise taxes because it does not “send the right signal” to residents or local businesses.

Residents spoke to Cassilly and his budget team during a town hall session Thursday. More than 100 residents — the majority of whom wore red in support of public education — filled the gymnasium of the Edgewood Recreation Center as nearly every speaker spoke in support of increased funding for education resources in the county.

Prior to the start of the public input portion, Cassilly explained to the crowd the state has “significantly” impacted the county’s ability to grow revenue because of the state’s anticipated revenue growth of less than 1%.

Cassilly said the state’s “drag” on the local economy “holds down” county revenue.

Upon leaving office in 2022, former County Executive Barry Glassman gave residents a 5-cent reduction on property taxes — costing the county roughly $20 million per year. Residents urged Cassilly during the town hall to revoke the tax cut and allocate the additional revenue to Harford County Public Schools, but Cassilly has remained adamant that a tax increase will not occur under his administration, regardless of the circumstance.

“I appreciate how important teachers are but there are a lot of single parents out there who are working two to three jobs,” Cassilly said in an interview after the town hall. “To say that teachers are more important than them and that they have to suck it up and take the tax increase is not right.”

Cassilly knew upon taking office of the deficiency that Glassman’s tax cut created, but said he didn’t revoke it during his first year in office because the local and state economies were “down.” Cassilly said he did not feel revoking the tax cut would help residents, gain their trust or create a friendly economy for local businesses.

“The wrong signal is that the government doesn’t respect the taxpayers and would choose to make things worse for taxpayers during the time by increasing taxes,” Cassilly said. “What they need to know is that we are all in this together.”

He said this year taxes would certainly not be increased because of the state and local economy worsening since he took office two years ago.

The school system faces a nearly $60 million funding deficiency that school sofficials have proposed to reduce to $26 million at the expense of 148 staff jobs.

Residents and local officials including Harford County District F Council member Jacob Bennett urged Cassilly to either reconsider increasing taxes or present an alternative plan to grow revenue in the county to support education.

“[Harford County] can’t afford our basic needs,” said Bennett, who is also a teacher with Harford schools. “I ask you to present a plan and if the plan is to cut services, be bold and say it but let the community know where we are going because we are on a big ship and we can’t have a captain with their eyes closed or we are on the Titanic.”

Cassilly’s growth plan he previously disclosed during his State of the County Address relies solely on supporting local businesses and attracting a highly skilled workforce to Harford County. Cassilly said he believes by attracting businesses and high paying jobs, Harford can further stimulate its economy and increase tax revenue.

However, Kaleena Heilman, a cyber analyst with a daughter in the school system’s special education “STRIVE” program, said if education services are cut, she, along with other highly trained professionals, will leave Harford County.

“I make almost $200,000 a year and I am more than happy to pay the higher taxes that it takes to keep the education that my daughter is thriving on because she is severely disabled,” Heilman said during the town hall. “Myself and other IT professionals have no problems going to another state if our child’s education needs are not going to be met here.”

Another parent, Miranda Stobl, said low funding of the school system could lead to school personnel being cut — potentially putting student safety at risk.

Stoble explained to Cassilly that a teacher was able to save her child’s life as a result of a small class size. The teacher noticed that her child was having a mental health crisis. The teacher was able to connect the child with school resources without neglecting other students in the classroom, which Strobl said might not have been possible had the teacher had more children in the classroom.

“Flat funding of HCPS can result in larger class sizes and in turn, result in a teacher’s lack of ability to build healthy, meaningful relationships with their students,” Strobl said. “If Mrs. Roberts had an overcrowded class, I don’t know that she would be able to see that my child was desperately calling out for help.”

Harford County Public School art teacher Heather Johnson emphasized not only the value of education funding, but the benefits a healthy, well-funded public library system has on the community.

Starting out as a teacher, Johnson said she did not have money to buy supplies or resources for her students and local libraries provided her with free resources for her classroom.

“I encourage you to fund our schools and our libraries,” Johnson said. “I respect the decisions you have to make but as a mom and as a builder of this community that I love, our schools are our future.”

The Harford County Board of Education passed its budget proposal Monday night, outlining the elimination of 148 positions across the district and reducing the school’s initial deficit to $26 million.

Cassilly said if he were to fully fund the school system’s request, funding for Harford schools would be increased by 8%.

“Eight percent is double the rate of increase we expect for county revenue next year but this is a good step in the right direction and my staff and I will continue to work with the public schools,” Cassilly said.

A budget proposal from Cassilly is expected in April. The council will then vote on the fiscal 2026 budget prior to the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.

Because of state budget complications and county tax revenue projections, Cassilly said there are “too many unknowns” for him to speculate what he might allocate to the schools next year.

“This whole premise that we have already decided to flip the middle finger to the schools is just utter nonsense,” Cassilly said. “We are trying to do what we can for education and have never said we are flat funding next year. There are just too many unknowns right now.”

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