A proposed 2-cent decrease in the real property tax rate, from 68 cents per $100 of valuation to 66 cents, is part of next year's budget for Aberdeen, but that's not enough for one resident.
Barbara Osborn Kreamer, a former member of the Harford County Council and state delegate, said during a public hearing on the FY2016 budget Monday that the rate should be lowered to around 50 cents. She said that will make the city more competitive with Bel Air and Havre de Grace, where the respective real property rates are 50 cents and 56 cents.
"We missed the boat with the BRAC influx," Kreamer said.
She said new residents who came to Harford County during the 2005-2011 BRAC process of expansion at Aberdeen Proving Ground should have settled in Aberdeen, but they moved to surrounding communities, and she suspects it is because the city has the highest property tax rate of Harford's three municipalities.
"The differential in our tax rate has discouraged those people from moving here," she said.
"Sometimes I think the people of Aberdeen are like snails," she said. "We have a big shell that we're carrying around, and that shell is overblown municipal expenses."
Two other residents expressed their concerns about the need for a facility in Aberdeen for recreational and educational activities for children and teenagers.
Carol Bruce, who is a volunteer with the Aberdeen Board of Parks & Recreation's tennis program, urged the mayor and city council to find funding to build a recreation facility in the city.
The Board of Parks and Recreation is headquartered in the Havre de Grace Activity Center, after Aberdeen's office was closed in recent years.
"There are volunteers out there that want to volunteer," Bruce said. "They don't know where to go, because that office is closed."
The board still provides multiple programs in Aberdeen, including sports, dance, martial arts and even chess clubs, according to its web page.
Bruce also acknowledged that the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County, which is headquartered in Aberdeen and operates a heavily-used club in the city, has provided many activities for children, but she stressed an additional facility, based in Aberdeen, is needed for youth who want to play sports, dance or get involved in cheerleading.
"I beg you, whatever we can do, whatever I can do, to rally people to support, to get us funding for a recreational facility for this city so that our youth will have somewhere [to go] besides being in the streets," she said.
Mayor Mike Bennett told Bruce the city is working with Harford County, which oversees parks and recreation programs and facilities, to develop a center in Aberdeen.
"It's not an issue of, it's Aberdeen's problem, it's the county's problem," Bennett said. "It's kind of a two-fold thing, and we're all working on it."
Resident Janice Grant, a retired teacher, said she is willing to tutor children and adults if an appropriate facility was available.
"We do need a place where we can do that," she said. "The [Aberdeen] library is not large enough."
City Manager Doug Miller said the public comments will be reviewed during the council's June 1 work session, and city leaders expect to adopt the budget June 8. The 2015-2016 fiscal year begins July 1.