Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach, according to the old saw.

George Hale can say he’s done both.

Hale’s 16-year run as chief executive of the Baltimore County Revenue Authority will end in August when he retires. He’ll return to academia as a political science professor at Kutztown University.

“That’s what I did 30 years ago,” said Hale, who holds a doctorate in political science from Syracuse University.
Hale then went on to teach the subject at the University of Delaware between 1975 and 1980.

Hale left the university. The plan was to spend two or three years getting some real-life experience in the subject he was teaching.

First, it was a fellowship with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He followed that up with a year as a special assistant to Delaware Gov. Pierre Du Pont. He served four more years as assistant director of economic development for Du Pont. From 1985 to 1993, he served as the secretary of administrative services under Delaware Gov. Mike Castle.

When his time in Delaware government ended, Hale started looking for another challenge.

“I ended up down here by accident,” said Hale, who joined the authority in 1993 and lives in Mays Chapel. “I explored going back to teaching, but I had gotten used to my government paycheck.”

It was then that a search firm hired by the Revenue Authority contacted Hale.

“I never expected it would last 16 years,” said Hale, who earns $149,000 annually and has the use of an authority-owned car. “I’d never done anything for more than eight years at a time.”

During that time, Hale has overseen the expansion of the authority’s purview from administering the county’s public parking garages in Towson and its metered parking around the county to running the county’s three golf courses in 1995. By 2002, the authority had built two more courses and purchased a third.

Last year, the authority, in partnership with the county, built a combination ice skating rink and indoor sports complex that it operates in Owings Mills.

The authority also entered into an agreement to build another parking garage in Towson that would be part of the proposed Towson Circle III complex on Joppa Road.

Hanan Sibel, chairman of the authority’s five-member board, praised Hale’s tenure.

“I hate to see George go,” Sibel said. “He’s gotten better and better and better. He’s at his peak now.”
Hale said he thought he might want to return to the classroom.

“I began to think about want I wanted to do with my career,” He said. “I began to play with the idea of returning to teaching.”

The financial considerations always seemed to be a sticking point.

“Our household income would have taken a real hit, like driving off a cliff,” Hale said.

So five years ago he began to “test drive the  idea” and took a position as an adjunct professor back at the University of Delaware.

“I wanted to make sure I enjoyed it as much as I thought I did,” said Hale, adding that it was a good opportunity to re-establish his academic credentials.

Hale, who turns 60 this year, said being eligible for retirement this year started to make a return to teaching full time look possible.

“I thought it would take a year to find the right spot,” he said. “Then I got a good offer from a place that really wanted me.”

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