Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh is pledging to work to improve salaries for the county's public employees, including teachers, police and firefighters.

“We try very hard to make sure that all of our public employees ... are paid fairly,” said Schuh, a Republican, during the recent legislative luncheon hosted by the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce. “As revenues rise, my goal will be to continue to increase salaries.”

Teacher pay has been a contentious topic in recent months, particularly for teachers.

In October, the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County decided to trade promised stipends for teachers at schools with the most disadvantaged students for a 2 percent full-year raise for all its members.

That decision sparked a work-to-rule protest — with some teachers declining to advise clubs or write college recommendation letters because they fall outside the work required in their contracts — and a letter-writing campaign by teachers and students appealing to Schuh for teacher pay raises.

While Schuh didn't endorse the deal the union accepted, union leaders said they wouldn't have had to compromise if the executive and County Council had budgeted more for education.

Schuh has argued that the public school system's $65,000 average salary for teachers is on par with the state's average, and that teachers have seen a 20 percent raise since 2008, when cost-of-living and step increases are considered.

But at the chamber luncheon, he tweaked that message a bit.

“We're about average,” he said, repeating the teacher salary statistic, “but we're not an average county.”

He added he “would love to see” higher teacher pay.

Richard Benfer, president of the teachers union, said he'll be watching for Schuh's statements to be borne out in budget season.

“He's kind of said that before, and we didn't get our stuff last year, so I'm hoping that this time he means it,” Benfer said. “The only way to really enhance our salaries to make us more competitive is to fund the step increases that are in our contract.”

Last month, county schools Superintendent George Arlotto submitted his proposed $1.14 billion operating budget and $255.6 million capital budget for the next fiscal year to the Board of Education.

Schuh will take up the budget in the spring and propose his own version in May.

House Speaker Michael Busch, an Annapolis Democrat, also touched on salaries and education funding in his comments to the chamber.

Busch compared Anne Arundel to neighboring Howard County, which has won national accolades for its public school system and quality of life.

“Where we struggle against Howard County is ... the vast majority of our public servants are either understaffed or underpaid,” he said.

Anne Arundel, Busch noted, spends about 58 percent of its budget on education, while Howard allocates 64 percent of its budget to schools.

“You, as a chamber of commerce, have to understand that the schools are the greatest investment we could make in our county,” he said.

Advocates for higher salaries say teachers aren't the only category in which Arundel could use a boost.

Anne Arundel County's police officers have starting salaries that are nearly $13,000 lower than in Howard, and $5,000 below most other neighboring jurisdictions, according to O'Brien Atkinson, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 70.

Atkinson said the union tried to broach the topic of higher starting salaries in negotiations last year, but county officials did not discuss a raise.

He said lower salaries make it difficult for the department to recruit good applicants.

“Our solution has always been just increase the starting salary, and you will get the candidates you need,” he said.

Schuh said he would look at salaries for firefighters and police as well.

Starting salaries should be a particular focus, he said, though he noted that Howard and Montgomery counties, where officers are paid more, “are hard jurisdictions with which to compete.”