Accountability can mean a lot of things. It can mean fessing up when you’ve made a goof. It can mean saying I’m sorry. And it can also mean not giving yourself a raise unless our teachers and low-income wage workers have been given one first.
Yet over the last four years, Calvin Ball has gotten himself $23,000 in incremental raises, with the next County Executive being expected to be paid roughly $244,500 for 2027, $250,578.00 for 2028, and so on.
Public office needs to stop being a path to personal enrichment
Over the same amount of time, our friends who earn minimum wage have gone from $14/hr (or $12.50/hr if you work for a small business or non-profit) to $16/hr as of July 1st of this year. That’s $25,200 to $32,256 annually, or a $7,056 increase.
For our friends who aren’t yet adults, Howard County has decided they’re less valuable, 15% less valuable to be exact. So our younger friends have gone from $10.63/hr to $13.60/hr. If working full time, that’s $21,430 to $27,417 annually; an increase of less than $6000.
In 2026 the Juvenile pay gap (0.85:1) is smaller than the gender pay gap[1] (0.81:1)... but that’s like comparing rotten apples to moldy cheese.
For our friends who work for tips, they have the fewest protections. They make just $3.60/hr, which is less per hour than I made as a kid back in 1992.
This table should summarize things.
| worker | 2022 hourly | 2022 salary | 2027 hourly | 2027 salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| County Exec | $109.86 | $221,475 | $121.27 | $244,500 |
| Adult min wage | $12.50 | $25,200 | $16.00 | $32,256 |
| <18 min wage | $10.63 | $21,430 | $13.50 | $27,417 |
| Tipped wage | $3.60 | $7,257 | $3.60 | $7,257 |
| Here we have each as a percentage (%) of minimum wage. |
| worker | 2022 hourly | 2022 % of min | 2027 % increase | 2027 % of min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| County Exec | $109.86 | 878% | 10.3% | 758% |
| dult min wage | $12.50 | 100% | 28% | 100% |
| <18 min wage | $10.63 | 85% | 26.9% | 85% |
| Tipped wage | $3.60 | 28% | 0% | 22.5% |
| Ok, so the distance between the County Executive’s salary and someone making minimum wage went from 878% down to 776%, which is less terrible. |
To put this all in perspective, the folks over at MIT calculate a living wage in Howard County to be around $27.30 (see https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/24027)
If we capped the County Executive’s pay at no more than 500% minimum wage, and required any pay increases to keep in step with minimum wage, we could get things better on track. Small percentage increases mean large real dollars when you’re giving a raise to a high-income person, but 2.5% of $16/hr is $3.20 for an 8-hour shift, before taxes...
That would be $161,280, a $90,000 savings that could be used to completely cover the salary of another person and give that person the ability to “afford” $2500/mo in housing expenses. Or the $90,000 is almost enough to pay the full-time minimum wage salaries of three people who won’t be able to afford to live in the same county as they work.
A little more on the exceptions to minimum wage
The below excerpts can be found on archive.org here.
- A SMALL EMPLOYER is considered:
- a small employer as defined under the State minimum wage law
- an employer that has tax-exempt status under section 50l(c)(3) of the IRS Code
- an employer that provides "Home Health Services" as defined by 42 C.F.R, § 440.70 or "Home or Community-Based Services" as defined by 42 C.F.R. § 440.180, and receives at least 75% of gross revenues through State and Federal Medicaid Programs.
- an employer that is defined as a Food Service Facility of any size defined in Section 10.15.03.02 of the Code of Maryland Regulations (“COMAR”).
- A TIPPED EMPLOYEE is an employee who (1) is engaged in an occupation in which the employee customarily and regularly receives more than $30 each month in tips; (2) has been informed by the employer about the provisions of the law; and (3) has kept all of the tips that the employee received. This does not prohibit the pooling of tips. The tip credit amount that the employer takes shall not exceed the County minimum wage less $3.63 per hour. For more information about the allowable tip credits CLICK HERE (archive.org)
It's been a known thing for years that in most cases working for a non-profit or NGO is not a way to make the big bucks. We've however written it into law, but I'm not sure how explicitly defining scenarios where workers can legally be paid less benefits these workers.
The scam of tip credits and absurdly low tipped minimum wage.
Tips can come directly from customers, or as part of a tip pool. With tip credits, an employer can credit a portion of an employee's tips toward the employer obligation to pay minimum wage. So 1. employers don't have to pay a fair wage. 2. Employees get tips because customers are expected to directly pay the employees. If we don't tip, they don't make money. 3. Employers get to take credit for the tips the employee earned, because they employees had to seek tips, because the employers don't pay them.
Having tipped employees is like saying you fed your dog after it was forced to turn over the trash can for scraps, because you forgot to feed your dog. How have we normalized this you ask? Unfortunately that’s the wrong question. The tipped-wage, as well as “at-will” employment both goes back to slavery, half-steps taken during reconstruction, and our long tradition of prioritizing the rights of businesses and the wealthy over individual persons. Advocates for “right to work” laws argue that if workers have the “right to quit” without reason or restrictions, employers should have a “right to fire” without reason or explanation, and of course the terms “at-will” and “right to work” have only ever been propaganda.
Howard County deserves better. You deserve better.
Exceptions:
THIS SUBTITLE DOES NOT APPLY TO AN INDIVIDUAL:
- Under 18 years of age, however, an employer shall pay employees under 18 years of age a wage that is equal to at least 85% of the County Minimum wage established under this section;
- Under 16 years of age and employed no more than 20 hours in a week;
- Employed as part of training in a special education program for emotionally, mentally, or physically handicapped students under the school systems;
- Employed as a hand-harvest laborer and paid on a piece-rate basis in an operation that, in the region of employment, has been customarily and generally recognized as having been paid on that basis if:
- The Individual:
- commutes daily from the permanent residence of the individual to the farm where the individual is employed; and;
- during the preceding calendar year was employed in agriculture less than 13 weeks; OR
- The Individual:
- is under the age of 17;
- is employed on the same farm as a parent of the individual or a person standing in the place of the parent; and
- is paid at the same rate that an employee who is at least 17 years old is paid on the same farm.
- Employed in agriculture if, during each quarter of the preceding calendar year, the employer used no more than 500 agricultural worker days;
- Is a child, parent, spouse, or other member of the immediate family of the employer;
- Is employed in a non-administrative capacity at an organized camp, including a resident or day camp, OR
- Is engaged in activities of a charitable, educational, nonprofit, or religious organization if the service is provided gratuitously and there is, in fact, no employer-employee relationship.
Footnote(s)
[1] In 2026, the gender pay gap has widened in several major regions, marking a reversal of previous progress. According to the Census Bureau and Payscale, women working full-time, year-round now earn 81 cents for every dollar men earn, down from 83 cents in 2023 and 84 cents in 2022. This represents the first consecutive widening of the wage gap since the 1960s.
