County Council Vice-Chair Pete Smith Focuses on Smart Investments In New, FY '27 Proposed Budget
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 7 hours ago
One of the more striking accounts that County Executive candidate Pete Smith shares on the campaign trail is about his harrowing childhood growing up in Chicago. Smith moved over a dozen times before he completed high school. He was, as he described it, “chronically homeless” due to high rents and a lack of affordable options for his family. Smith’s family moved frequently and stayed with relatives after several evictions.
“It was tough. It was bad. My mom worked numerous jobs as a single mother to take care of us, but the money was never ‘long’ enough despite the long hours she worked. A small closet—about maybe 5’ x 3’, if I’m being generous—was my bedroom in my aunt’s house in high school,” said Smith.
Smith cites this experience as a motivation for his leadership in passing the Cottage Homes ordinance, which creates smaller affordable homes, and the Housing Attainability Act, which strengthened inclusionary zoning—particularly in Annapolis, Laurel, and Glen Burnie, where rents are rapidly rising.
“The inclusionary zoning bill I helped sponsor required new apartment developments to set aside 10–15% of their total units for affordable housing. That means that out of 300 units, our bill helped ensure that 45 units would be set aside for hotel workers like my mom, for veterans, firefighters, or schoolteachers. That’s a big deal for people in Annapolis or even the Russett area, where it’s getting really expensive. So, it’s important to prioritize needs in this year’s budget that are aligned with housing and affordability, ” said Smith.
Smith says this year’s budget includes key priorities to support his Affordability Agenda:
$2M for the Anne Arundel County Food Bank
Funding to support homeless youth.
A reduction in property tax rate
Funding to speed up design and construction for county public works projects
A $73M increase for Anne Arundel County Public Schools—a $20M increase over last year’s budget
Funding to support new case manager navigators to help residents find and keep health insurance amid rising costs
Funding to hire 21 new firefighters in Annapolis and South County
Smith said that as Vice Chair of the County Council, he has been able to work successfully with outgoing County Executive Steuart Pittman on these priorities for years.
“Steuart is leaving, but the priorities remain the same. Overall, I’m proud of the priorities we have identified together. Increasing the schools budget helps to ensure funding for key initiatives like the Community Schools Program, which works to support struggling low-income students; providing $2M to the food bank helps everyone across the county; and our work to help people manage the cost of health insurance is a big win too. The pilot program to support homeless youth is personal to me, of course. We’ve also added significant funding for fire and police. Our budget reflects our values, and that’s important to me as a leader in this community for over 20 years now.”
Smith, a Major in the United States Marines, said the next few weeks will be spent ironing out some details of the budget, but he feels confident that the priorities he identified will largely remain intact because they are practical solutions informed in part by his own experiences.
“Look, one of the things you don’t forget as an 11-year-old is an eviction. It’s something that stays with you a long time, when you come home and find your household items on the curb. You don’t forget what it’s like to go to school hungry or to struggle to pay the light bill. That is my north star. I spend every day of my life not just talking about the working-class. I'm doing something about it. It’s why I work so hard to lead Toys for Tots throughout Maryland, it’s why I serve our great country, and it’s why I give my all to this county council.”
