Competence over chatter.

The 2024 “penny tax” charter amendment was approved by Talbot County voters by roughly 400 votes. The mandate was narrow but clear: fund public safety properly.

Every dollar must go exactly where voters were told it would, to the Sheriff’s deputies, paramedics, EMTs, 911 operators, and school resource officers. You don’t honor a hard-won mandate by letting it sit in a budget line.

Brian supports continued investment in CORS and LEOPS retirement programs to recruit and retain the professionals who keep our communities safe.

Talbot County’s aging water and sewer infrastructure needs serious, sustained attention, not deferred decisions.

Get this wrong and you damage the Chesapeake Bay, constrain responsible growth, and hand the bill to future generations. Failing septic systems are a direct threat to Bay water quality.

We have the knowledge to plan this well. The question is whether we have the discipline to do it.

Teachers, paramedics, nurses at Memorial, county employees, first responders, tradespeople. More and more can’t afford to live in the community they serve.

Workforce housing isn’t a progressive talking point. It’s an economic and community necessity. Businesses need employees who can afford to live nearby.

Brian supports zoning and policy tools that expand housing options for working families, including mixed-income housing and inclusionary zoning frameworks.

Talbot County ranks near the bottom of Maryland in per-pupil spending while maintaining one of the lowest tax rates in the state.

Fiscal constraints are real, and Brian takes them seriously. But a county that doesn’t invest adequately in its children is borrowing against its own future.

The tax cap is a legitimate fiscal discipline mechanism, it must not be allowed to starve essential services or be used as a political weapon against schools.