Harford’s Citizen Budget Advisory Board is urging County Executive Bob Cassilly to invest more in Harford Community College to avoid tuition increases and calling into question whether the county can afford cost-of-living salary increases for staff.

The board is composed of seven members appointed by the Harford County Council to provide advice on the annual budget. Members are experienced in real estate, agriculture, education, emergency services, government, business, banking, accounting and finance and deliberate on the budget throughout its inception.

Len Parrish, citizen advisor appointed by council President Patrick Vincenti, gave the board’s report to the council in May. He questioned how Cassilly is able to fund a 3% cost-of-living adjustment, also known as a COLA, for county employees in addition to a $1,000 merit increase.

“The 3% COLA is higher than the federal COLA of 2.5% and with the $1,000 merit increase many employees will see a 4-5% increase overall,” Parrish said. “We question how this is affordable when the county executive challenges other organizations to tighten their belts while not meeting funding requests?”

Cassilly has cited a $90 million “structural deficit” in the county budget that he inherited when he took office in 2022 as the reason Harford County is unable to fully fund things such as the $60 million increase requested by the public school system.’

Parrish said county government employees received a pay increase during the first two years of Cassilly’s administration despite a “structural deficit.”

“In the private sector if a business is struggling and not profitable then employees typically don’t get a pay increase,” Parrish said.

Cassilly proposed a fiscal 2026 budget for the county and claimed to have “fully funded” Harford County Public Schools. The Citizen Budget Advisory Board cautioned Cassilly to not use the term “fully funded” as the Board of Education had to eliminate 150 positions and programs in order to balance its budget with available funds.

The proposed fiscal 2026 budget also would flat fund Harford Community College at $19.8 million — the same amount the college has been receiving for the past four years. If the budget is passed and the college’s funding is not increased, tuition will rise by 3%, which equates to a $4 increase per credit hour and an annual increase of $120 for a full-time student.

Harford Community College President Theresa Felder said the college has used more than $1 million of its reserve fund each year to stave off tuition increases.

Parrish said the amount of workforce development Harford Community College brings to Harford County makes the college a valuable investment.

“Considering the amount of collaboration the college has with Harford County Public Schools offering dual enrollment, investing in our workforce training and providing degree and non-degree educational programming, it seems like a reasonable request to invest enough to keep tuition rates where they are currently if at all possible,” Parrish said.

The County Council requested that Cassilly use $2.16 million of the county’s fund balance to increase funding in the following areas:

  • State’s Attorney’s Office salary parity — $240,000
  • Court security sheriff’s deputies — $600,000
  • Harford County Sheriff’s Office Tasers and riot helmets — $1.1 million
  • Harford Community College — $200,000

Cassilly responded to the request by saying he feels the additional funding is unnecessary.

Harford’s fiscal 2026 operating budget must be approved by the council by June 15. It goes into effect July 1.

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