Politics & Government

Howard County Firefighter Speaks Out Against Pension Shift

'We will be in big trouble' if pension burden shifts to counties, says Howard County Professional Fire Fighters Association president.


Howard County's fire department is funded by a special tax, but firefighters are still concerned that the state's budget woes could spell trouble for fire and rescue services.

At a  earlier this week, Rich Ruehl, president of the Howard County Professional Fire Fighters Association, appealed to local legislators to fight Gov. Martin O’Malley’s plan to  for part of teacher pensions, which are currently paid by the state.

County fire and rescue services are funded by property taxes and not through the general fund, which would bear the burden of teacher pension costs. But since property values have gone down, the revenue generated by the fire and rescue tax has also been shrinking, Ruehl noted. 

Find out what's happening in Elkridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to Howard County's Budget Administrator Ray Wacks, property values have gone down “pretty dramatically” over the past three years. Since 2010, the total assessable base in Howard County has fallen from $50.2 billion to $44.8 billion, said Wacks.

In the past, Ruehl said, fire and rescue services would look to the county for supplemental funding if needed.

Find out what's happening in Elkridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But if the county has an extra $17.2 million in funding responsibilities from the governor's plan to shift some cost of the teachers' pensions, securing any additional funding from the county might not be an option.

Like, Ruehl said county fire and rescue services could face staff reductions if the county were to take on the extra cost of teacher pensions. There could also be rotating facility closures, he said, as well as stalled development on projects in progress.

“If we don’t get new revenue sources,” he said, “we will be in big trouble.”

The governor’s plan might include some additional funding sources, Wacks said, but those proposals are getting some pushback.

Unless and until those additional funding sources are accepted, Ruehl said, “We’re expecting the worst.”

Read the complete testimony on the pension shift from the Howard County Professional Fire Fighters Association.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here