The Prince George’s County Council adopted a $5 billion spending plan on Wednesday for the fiscal year that begins July 1 that boosts investments in education and public safety, keeping intact the priorities of County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D).

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       The budget — which is nearly 10 percent larger than this year’s — is designed to help the county navigate the long tail of the pandemic while equitably providing resources to county residents. The Board of Education will see its budget rise about 12 percent under the plan, to $2.63 billion, accounting for the largest slice of the pie. Public safety resources such as police, fire and corrections departments follow, receiving a combined $827 million.

       “Last year, my remarks announced an adopted county budget that would cautiously begin the process of creating a path forward from the impacts of the devastating, historic and unprecedented global pandemic,” County Council Chairman Calvin S. Hawkins II (D-At Large) said at Wednesday’s meeting. “Over the last year, we have begun to focus on the many opportunities before Prince George’s County.”

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       The county had more to work with this cycle, thanks to federal, state and outside aid for the Board of Education, and increased property and income tax collections, according to a budget proposal review.

       Education funding includes $15 million for school construction, as well as $127 million for Prince George’s Community College. The county’s public library system is slated to receive $36 million.

       Public safety spending is slated to rise from $765 million last year to $827 million. When Alsobrooks announced the budget plan earlier this year, she said the increase reflects a response to residents’ concerns about crime. More than 130 homicides were recorded in 2021 in Prince George’s, the most since 2007. Alsobrooks also said the budget reflects an increased commitment to police accountability.

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       The final budget includes funding for a police accountability board and an administrative charging committee, which were mandated last year under sweeping police reform legislation passed by the General Assembly. The council must establish the bodies before a July 1 deadline. The spending plan contains $5 million to help with retaining and recruiting officers and money for more body-worn cameras for the county’s public safety agencies.

       The council added $1 million above Alsobrooks’s proposal for “use of force” tracking, new enforcement technology and new personnel in the Police Aviation Unit, among other initiatives.

       Last year’s budget was shaped by interest to address health disparities made unusually clear by the pandemic’s impact on the majority-Black county, and by calls for police reform that followed the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.

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       This budget includes $3.3 million for litter-reduction programs and $4 million for technology to help improve the permitting and licensing systems for businesses. It also includes increased investments in efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, including $95 million for a storm-water management fund. The council added additional funding for environmental protections and clean communities such as funding for illegal dumping surveillance cameras and staffing support for the county’s Climate Change Action Plan.

       The council also boosted spending on cybersecurity at county libraries, established and funded a six-year program in the county’s Department of Public Works and Transportation for local road repairs, supported immigration legal defense efforts in the Office of Human Rights, and provided support for a labor trafficking unit to investigate incidents and enforce prohibitions on labor trafficking.

       “It’s an exciting budget given that we’re talking about $5 billion,” council member Deni Taveras (D-District 2) said. “It’s a budget that is reflective of the county executive and the chair’s priorities.”

       Taveras, who is term-limited, said it was transformational to see the budget increase by so much since she was first elected in 2014.

       “We’re closing my final budget at $5 billion,” Taveras said. “I’m very proud of that.”