Budget Town Hall Ward 6 and 8 October 23 2026

The City of Annapolis Ward 6 and 8 budget town hall on October 23, 2026, covered city revenues, operating and capital budgets, and neighborhood priorities. Officials described capital work including City Dock resilience improvements (about $16 million in the current-year budget and roughly $90 million cumulatively), fire-station rebuilding, sidewalks, roads, parks, and water-access projects. Fire-station costs remain estimates; the mayor said the broader project could reach approximately $20–30 million and that about $11 million in the introduced budget covered design and planning for an initial station. The council added $500,000 to a budget item discussed at the meeting, while officials described reallocating capital funding among projects according to expected spending schedules. A street-cleaning contract is planned, and officials said additional snowplow blades are being funded. No town-hall procurement award or formal spending vote was reported; the mayor said the prior year’s budget passed unanimously.

The city manager is expected to issue an RFP for a consultant to develop a city housing plan, with the city hoping to use state grant funding for the work. Officials also discussed a roughly $3 million grant for a proposed diesel-electric hybrid ferry: an RFI had drawn interest from four or five firms, and potential RFPs for vessel design/build and operations were under consideration. The mayor said the business case contains assumptions and that the council would hear a presentation and provide direction; no decision to proceed was reported. The city was not awarded the HUD Choice Neighborhoods Initiative grant, leaving the Eastport/Harbor House redevelopment dependent on assembling other funding. A budget request for AI-assisted application screening in Planning and Zoning was approved, but no amount or vendor was identified.