Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley has proposed a $145 million dollar budget– a 21% increase over his proposed budget last year ($120 million). With no new taxes on the horizon, the Mayor has proposed this despite a projected $5 million revenue shortfall.
In his State of the City address, Buckley mentioned that City Manager Teresa Sutherland advised that the City was missing out on tax revenue from hotel and bed and breakfast bookings from online booking engines. He also indicated that the City and County are pressing forward on taxing short term rentals like Air BNB and Vacation Rental By Owner.
The Mayor also thanked the first responders who responded to the shooting at the Capital-Gazette newsroom in June and also announced a Remembrance Concert on June 28th.
At the beginning of the meeting, Buckley was taken aback when Alderman Ross Arnett proposed adding an item to the agenda to discuss the $400 million suit the City is lodging against big Pharma. The attorney selected to represent the City is local attorney Joseph Gormley who was a large financial supporter of the Mayor in his campaign. Despite the Acting City Attorney’s recommendation, the item was added, but was to be heard at the end of the meeting. Arnett stressed that it was not a discussion of the suit itself, but more of the City’s selection of the attorney, and the CIty’s decision to actually file a suit.
You can listen to the Mayor’s State of the City speech here:
Or read the transcript here:
