Drilling down on housing, City Dock and taxes with Annapolis Ward 1 candidates

Annapolis’ Ward 1, home to historic downtown, has the city’s most competitive primary raceTuesday, with five Democrats running.

Most candidates, including sitting alderman Harry Huntley, applied for the appointment process last year to replace alderman Eleanor Tierney, who stepped down. Ben Bramsen, a regional director of a tutoring service, and Kathleen McDermott, a former federal prosecutor, were the only candidates who did not apply.

The winner of the Tuesday primary will advance to the November election against unaffiliated candidate Tom Krieck.

The Capital Gazette questioned each Democratic primary candidate on their plans regarding some top issues facing Ward 1.

Housing and short-term rentals

Ward 1 is home to most of the city’s short-term rentals. Huntley has proposed legislation that prevents the issuance of additional short-term rental licenses if one side of a city block’s units is 10% or more short-term rentals.

One of Huntley’s plans to address the affordable housing shortage is a bill that would allow single-family homes on double lots to be converted into duplexes, which he says aligns with the city’s historic land uses.

Bramsen, McDermott and Ron Gunzburger are calling for a moratorium on new short-term rental licenses, except short-term rentals in owner-occupied homes.

McDermott argued that the city is driving out long-term renters by prioritizing short-term rentals, including through proposed legislation like the duplex bill. She said limiting short-term rentals is the best way to help the long-term rental market and affordability.

Bramsen, who has focused much of his campaign on housing affordability, argued that the 10% limit is too high, adding that short-term rental properties are taking up the more affordable housing in his ward.

“That’s a significant amount of livable units that people aren’t able to be in,” Bramsen said. “That’s what’s going to jack up prices for people as well.”

Bramsen wants to create a fine for “bad-faith landlords,” who keep rental units empty in an attempt to wait for a renter willing to pay high prices.

Genevieve Torri, a former chair of the city’s Art in Public Places Commission, said she wants to propose legislation that would go block by block to determine how many short-term rental licenses are allowed. She said she would propose a rule that if a short-term rental owner or tenant violates three codes or ordinances, the short-term rental license would be revoked.

To encourage more landlords to offer long-term rentals instead of short-term rentals, Gunzburger said the city’s life and safety code requirements should be made equal for both types of rentals. The current system, he argues, encourages people to rent on a short-term basis.

Gunzburger, who worked in Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration, said improving transportation from places where more affordable housing units can be built to areas with more jobs in the service industry, like downtown and Eastport, could help people affordably live and work in the city.

City Dock project

Annapolis is set to begin construction next month on the City Dock Project, which would add flood prevention barriers, a park, a welcome center and other amenities to City Dock, which experiences frequent flooding.

Part of the project’s budget comes from an anticipated $33 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has not yet been received by the city.

Huntley, the sitting alderman, said any talks to change the project or adjust it would ultimately delay the project and the flooding prevention systems.

“What you’ll hear is everybody saying that they want to stop the flooding, but in practice, they want us to go back to the drawing board on it, and that will destroy the project,” Huntley said. “That will mean that it never gets done…that’s the effect of their words.”

All candidates agreed that the project should prioritize the flooding prevention systems and the new park, but some additions, like a splash pad, are controversial.

Gunzburger argued that funding for parts of the project, such as for the welcome center and the splash pad, should be saved to raise sea walls on other projects.

“I think we have a duty, over time to keep moving forward and extend the wall further,” Gunzburger said.

McDermott said she is concerned about a lack of transparency surrounding the project’s status and the funding. McDermott, a former federal prosecutor, said the city should have pivoted to a “Plan B” last year, when she says it was clear the city would not receive the FEMA funds.

Bramsen called the budget for the project “bloated” and said that the flood mitigation and green space should be decoupled from the other amenities and welcome center.

Torri, who said she served on the City Dock Action Committee, said she believes the FEMA funds are coming to the city. She said that the plan should be implemented as soon as possible, but that flood resiliency should be prioritized first.

City budget and property taxes

Huntley and the alderman he replaced, Tierney, both have led the council’s finance committee, which reviews the city budget. The city’s passed budget has about doubled within the past 10 fiscal years, although there are discrepancies about how much of that increase was actually spending more or accounting for typical spending.

Huntley said in the next budget he would like to see additional funding for fixing roads and sidewalks. He added that there were numerous instances of one-time funds included in the budget that he voted against, he said. The city should also, Huntley said, use outcome-based budgeting to distribute money more effectively.

If he were active in the last city budget process, Gunzburger said he would have proposed consolidating “a whole gamut of services” that the county can provide, such as planning and transportation. The only services he would not consider moving to the county are the fire and police departments.

Torri and McDermott said they would have supported additional funding for emergency medical services.

“If you’re going to overspend, overspend on public safety,” said McDermott, who also said she would look at reducing personnel and cutting some discretionary spending around recreation.

Torri said the current budget wasn’t clean or transparent. Her focus, she said, would have been on not creating a deficit and ensuring that the city services were running properly.

Bramsen said he would probably have looked to cut spending from contracts and projects, including City Dock.

Huntley said his goal is to eventually lower the property tax rate, if the council can do some changes to make the city financially sound with less property tax revenue. The alderman said the city should renegotiate payments with non-property tax paying entities and improve the way the city spends money, such as changing the procurement code.

Torri, McDermott, and Gunzburger support a 2% assessment cap for property taxes, which fund the majority of the city budget.

With the current state of city finances, Bramsen said the city could not decrease property taxes at this time without significant spending cuts.

“Candidates that are saying that they are going to lower property taxes for people, they’re either lying, or they’re going to set this city up for disaster,” Bramsen said. “We are already struggling to control the spending in the city that we have.”

Source: https://www.capitalgazette.com/2025/09/14/annapolis-ward-1-candidates/?share=awtte9aewn21d4t1tcta