Prince George’s County faces a projected $151 million deficit in next year’s budget, laying bare a grim fiscal reality that could lead to deep spending cuts, local tax hikes or some combination of the two.
The deficit projection comes from the spending affordability committee, which issues two revenue reports each year — one in October and another in January — to provide up-to-date figures as officials craft the next year’s budget.
The latest October report states that mandated increases in school spending, employee compensation and merit raises, and rising debt service expenses are driving the county’s future spending growth. The state’s multibillion-dollar deficit is threatening to increase costs for local governments, too.
Meanwhile, broader economic headwinds and mass federal layoffs are hurting the county’s revenue growth.
The county faced a $58 million deficit in January, as officials crafted the budget for this fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.
Higher than expected income tax revenue helped buoy this year’s budget. But economists anticipated earlier this year that Prince George’s County would begin to feel the financial pain from the Trump administration’s mass layoffs more acutely during next year’s budget cycle.
The committee’s projections will inform decisions County Executive Aisha Braveboy and her budget office make as they draft the county’s next spending plan.
Brian Fischer, a spokesperson for Braveboy, did not respond to a request for comment sent Monday.
The county executive must submit her proposed budget to the County Council for its consideration by mid-March.
“Once the Council receives the proposed budget and has a complete picture of the County’s financial outlook, we will be in a better position to assess any projected shortfall and determine what actions may be necessary,” Council Chair Krystal Oriadha said in a statement Tuesday.
The county’s budget gap is projected to grow to as large as $194 million by 2030.
But future budget projections will be “substantially” closer to balanced if Braveboy and the County Council resolve next year’s $151 million projected shortfall “through a combination of ongoing revenue enhancements and spending cuts,” the report states.
Spending affordability committee members noted that the projections for the coming years factored in expected revenue loss from the Washington Commanders leaving Landover after the 2029 season and the opening of the Sphere project at National Harbor.
Braveboy said the Sphere is projected to bring in more than $60 million in annual revenue when it opens, roughly triple what the county expects to lose from the Commanders’ departure and the closure of Six Flags America in Bowie.
The report notes that Prince George’s, like counties around the state, must increase its contribution to the local school system’s budget as part of state mandates under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. The 2021 education spending law calls for increased investment in local schools over 10 years.
The county must also pay for collectively bargained salaries and increasing debt service expenses, too, the report states.
Committee members wrote that the county is also dealing with fallout “related to a potential economic downturn” and the repercussions of mass federal layoffs under President Donald Trump.
The report states that income tax estimates were based on an assumption that the county’s labor force is 5,000 jobs smaller, in part because of federal government layoffs.
They added that Maryland lawmakers and officials may decide to pull back state aid or impose local spending mandates as they grapple with a projected state-level deficit of nearly $3 billion.
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