Annapolis Republican Central Committee

Mayor Jared Littmann vs Alderman Jared Littmann

Mayor Littmann passed O-41-25, which created a new Deputy Chief of Staff position within the Mayor’s Office. As a result, the office will grow to 15 employees with a budget over 2 million dollars, making it the largest and most expensive Mayor’s Office in Annapolis history, up from just 7 employees in FY17.

Alderman Littmann consistently positioned himself as a voice for fiscal discipline. He warned about rising debt, growing personnel costs, and a budget that was expanding faster than revenues. He proposed across-the-board spending cuts, supported lowering taxes, and repeatedly voted against budgets he believed did not go far enough to address the city’s long-term financial challenges.

Jared Littmann’s Quotes on City Spending and Budgets

1. Concerns of spending led Littman, to propose a 2 percent spending cut for every city department. He made this amendment proposal from the floor, meaning it wasn’t submitted in writing.

Littmann decried the city’s debt expenses and raised about increases in personnel and pension payments for city employees. His amendment was defeated.

2. Here is Alderman Littman’s gusset column in the Capital positions on the size of budget and number of employees. It seems to be different from Mayor Littman’s.

*The number of employees has climbed. The council responded to constituent needs by adding two positions, the Hispanic and the African-American liaisons, at an annual cost of $40,000. It paid for this by eliminating one position, for a saving of $75,000, and saving $100,000 by scaling back employee use of take-home vehicles.

The mayor initiated most of the staffing creep, without eliminating other expenses. The city needs to make course corrections. 

Total spending has climbed by 9.4 percent, or $9.1 million, these past four years, but property taxes and other revenues increased only by 7.6 percent, or $7.4 million. Increasing spending faster than revenue is not sustainable.

3. Here are some quotes from a story in the Baltimore Sun

Council adjourned before finishing discussion on Littmann’s amendments, but it was clear there wasn’t a lot of support for the cuts he proposed: removing the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks director, the harbor master and its deputy, and staff reductions in the mayor’s office. 

4. Story about Jared trying to cut taxes.

Littmann was the only alderman to propose budget cuts. He proposed a small decrease in taxes as well, but that amendment was defeated. While his amendments passed, he voted against the budget as he didn’t think it went far enough to deal with the city’s looming revenue and expenses problem.