As he enters his eighth and final year as county executive, Steuart Pittman said he came to the job “pretty skeptical about government.”

In his annual “State of the County” address, Pittman said his views haven’t changed over his seven years on the job — but his strategy has.

“People across America are losing faith in government,” Pittman said in his video address Tuesday, according to his prepared remarks.

But the Democrat’s work in Anne Arundel County has “shown me a way forward.”

To heal from anger, Pittman said, politics must demonstrate that government can be effective, and it must include and engage residents in that work.

“The state of our county depends on our progress on these fronts, and I believe that the state of our county is strong,” he said.

Pittman, 64, highlighted what his administration has done already — including work to increase taxes only on the county’s highest earners, to retain government employees who know how “the systems actually work” and to invest in public safety and education — before pivoting toward the future.

While there’s been progress on affordable housing, Pittman said it’s not enough. He wants to get the state to update requirements around accessory dwelling units, incorporate housing into the Crownsville redevelopment project and get deals done at the Odenton MARC station and Cromwell Station in Glen Burnie.

Pittman also highlighted several parks projects he wants to make sure get started before his time in office runs out, including the Edgewater Rec Center, Brooklyn Park Community Center and the 22-acre South Shore Park in Crownsville.

He also looked ahead to the budget town halls that his administration is planning around the county. Before Pittman and the County Council get to work on the next county budget, they will spend time in each council district, hearing from residents directly.

Pittman said he expects to hear people say they’re hurting, in part because the “federal government has initiated policies that many economists believe will unravel the strong economy that we have enjoyed in recent years.”

The county’s next budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 — Pittman’s final budget — will likely reflect those “pleas for help” from county residents, he said.

“That is ultimately why local governments exist — to protect our people, to improve the health and wellness of our communities, and to ensure that opportunity is available to all,” Pittman said.

The county’s current $2.4 billion budget was passed unanimously by the County Council over the summer. It covers fiscal year 2026, which ends June 30.

Pittman, who is term-limited, is also the chair of the Maryland Democratic Party. At a public event in late November, he took on a task that he said he could not let his time in office end without: apologizing for the local government’s role in slavery.

Pittman lives on a family farm in Davidsonville where enslaved people were once held in bondage. The public apology for slavery had to be rescheduled because so many people expressed interest in attending; it also drew criticism from some, including the head of the local NAACP, for not going far enough.