Breaking News: Ellicott City Awarded $8.25 Million in FY21 State Budget

It is with great pleasure that Senator Katie Fry Hester and I announce that $8 million has been approved by the Maryland General Assembly in the state budget for Ellicott City’s Safe and Sound flood mitigation plan for Fiscal Year 2021. The General Assembly added $7 million to the $1 million proposed by the Governor for Ellicott City this year. Additionally, $250,000 has been granted in a local bond bill for sidewalks in the town. Speaker Adrienne Jones toured Ellicott City with me last summer and saw the economic and historic value of Old Ellicott City, not only to Howard County, but to the state and region as well. We are grateful for Speaker Jones’ leadership in making Ellicott City a priority in the state budget. County Executive Calvin Ball traveled to Annapolis multiple times in January and February to testify and meet with legislators to explain the Safe and Sound Plan, working with us to request capital funding, and in setting up future opportunities for funding through House Bill 78 (which also passed) regarding expanding uses of the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund for flood mitigation.

The state award means that three or four interconnected projects can move forward using a combination of state and county funds. Also instrumental in the state award was Senate President Bill Ferguson, Senator Doug Peters, Chair of Capital Budget Subcommittee; Senator Guy Guzzone, Chair of Budget and Tax Committee; and Delegate Maggie McIntosh, Chair of Appropriations, who all fought for and approved this substantial amount of funding to significantly advance the Safe and Sound Plan for Ellicott City. The total state funding committed for Historic Ellicott City since January of 2019 when Senator Hester and I began representing the town in the state legislature is now $14,020,000, as we sought and gained approval from the General Assembly for $3.4 million last year (FY2020), $8.25 million this year (FY2021), and there is another $2.37 million budgeted by the state next year.