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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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