Harford County Council President Patrick Vincenti said this week that he is offended by remarks made by County Executive Bob Cassilly in his veto of a recent charter amendment.
In a news release outlining his reasons for vetoing the council-passed amendment, that could have expanded the council’s budgetary power, Cassilly said in a news release that the amendment would have created “runaway spending” and potential tax increases. Cassilly, a Republican, also referred to council members as “part-time legislators” and voters as “busy with their lives” and “unlikely to delve into the complexities of charter amendments” with far reaching effects.
In a letter to constituents, Vincenti, a Republican, called Cassilly’s news release “replete with conjecture, speculation and unfounded attacks on the members of the county council, the citizens and voters of Harford County.”
“County Executive Cassilly makes it clear that he has no faith in the citizens and voters of our county,” Vincenti stated. “I am offended not only as your council president but also as a voting citizen of this county that this is the opinion of the county executive.”
The amendment Cassilly vetoed last week was introduced by District A Councilman Aaron Penman, a Republican, in May. The amendment would have granted members of the county council the ability to increase, decrease, delete and reallocate funds in the annual budget as long as they had a supermajority vote from five of the council’s seven members.
Currently, the county charter allows the council to only remove funds from parts of the budget. The council can essentially “redistribute” removed funds, but those funds can only go to public education, per the State Code of Maryland.
Vincenti’s letter stated that the charter amendment would not have led to tax increases and to claim otherwise would be “highly misleading.”
“(Cassilly) states that if the council moves funding under its authority pursuant to this charter amendment, he would be forced to raise taxes to cover the essential services provided to our citizens, which is completely false and inflammatory,” Vincenti stated.
The bill outlining the charter amendment was passed in a 4-3 vote by the council in late June. The next step would have been to take the matter to the residents to decide in a referendum vote.
Vincenti emphasized that the council’s passage of the proposed amendment was an opportunity to allow county voters to have their voice heard since all charter amendments must go to referendum before they can be enacted.
Cassilly’s veto last week denied county voters the opportunity to vote on the charter amendment during the general election in November and killed the bill.
“Through this veto message, County Executive Cassilly has taken that decision away from the voters,” Vincenti stated. “He has made it abundantly clear that he does not trust our citizens’ ability to make informed decisions for the best interest of our county.”
Vincenti, who has been serving on the county council for more than a decade, called Cassilly’s statement about the council members being part-time legislators “disrespectful” and pointed out a recent instance of the council’s successful budgetary oversight.
“Due to the diligence of our audit staff, it was discovered that the administration failed to collect $4,900,000 in EMS transport fees,” Vincenti said. “This is an example of the need for the council’s continuous revenue oversight, which has a direct impact on each year’s budget.”
The revenue is now actively being collected by the county, according to the administration’s Public Information Officer Matt Button.
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