Union concerns dominate Salisbury’s budget discussion
SALISBURY, Md. — Salisbury residents remain divided over Mayor Randy Taylor’s proposal to remove collective bargaining, a move that would effectively eliminate the city’s labor unions.
Salisbury City Council gathered in chambers to discuss ordinances, approve grants, and get a first look at the Fiscal Year 2026 budget. During public comment, residents primarily voiced concerns about one issue: the mayor’s plan regarding unions.
Connor, a Salisbury resident, said, “It’s been said that this year’s budget has raises and all the benefits for all the employees. So if we have all the money to pay the workers for the union agreement, why are we getting rid of the union?”
The mayor’s office noted that this year’s budget does include raises for first responders and city workers. Residents, however, continued to question the administration’s decisions.
Another resident asked, “You made a nice graph that showed us running out of money and dreams. Where did those projections come from?”
“Why are the downtown projects tied up in lawsuits of this administration’s own making — lawsuits, by the way, that will persist for years and continue to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars?” another resident said. “Our former mayor is the secretary of Housing and Community Development, one of the community’s largest advocates. Not tapping into that resource is a dereliction of duty, and it’s simply because of personal politics and an inability to work together. So council members, remember, we don’t have a financial problem. We have a leadership problem,” he added.
At the end of public comment, the mayor’s office and City Council pointed to the fire service agreement with Wicomico County.
Mayor Randy Taylor said, “We got $2.3 million last year. It was $1.5 million captured, which is the most in history. We came back this year with $4.1 million, and they went back down to $2.3 million.”
City Council President April Jackson said, “That fire service agreement is hurting us in many ways. We have not received the revenue we are supposed to get from them.”
Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano said that since taking office in 2022, she has tripled funding for the Salisbury Fire Department.
During the budget session, Giordano said, “The amount requested from the city of Salisbury by their fire chief was $825,000. Multiplied by three, that’s $2.4 million, which is just shy of what we ultimately provided. So this idea that we cut them $1 million is absolutely inaccurate.”
She added, “To say it’s the county’s fault because the city mismanaged funds is very unfair.”
Giordano said the county based its funding on the budget presented by Salisbury Fire Department Chief Rob Frampton.
“This was the request by their chief. We literally are $100,000 shy, so there needs to be better communication with the city,” she said. “Our volunteers fight the same fires with the same equipment. To think that the city of Salisbury should get millions more when they cover the same territory as our volunteer fire company is not reasonable. I am very confident in what we provided,” she added.
The City Council’s next meeting is May 12, when the council will vote on the ordinances’ first reading.
