Hearing scheduled on measure that would cap education cuts

Local legislators voice support

Matthew Bieniek Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — A committee hearing is scheduled Wednesday on a bill sponsored by Sen. George Edwards to cap K-12 education cuts by more than 5 percent in Maryland counties.

The hearing is scheduled at 1 p.m. in front of the Budget and Taxation Committee. Edwards is a member of the committee and the sponsor of Senate Bill 586.

Allegany County Commissioner Bill Valentine is scheduled to testify in favor of the bill, staff at Edward’s office said. The bill is also filed as House Bill 660 and is sponsored by Delegates Wendell Beitzel, LeRoy Myers Jr. and Kevin Kelly.

Gov. Martin O’Malley’s fiscal 2013 budget includes a 5.5 percent cut in funding for Allegany County and an 11.8 percent cut in funding for Garrett County. This is on top of a 6 percent cut these two jurisdictions took in funding during the fiscal 2012 budget.

The bill would effectively limit the cuts per year to 5 percent through 2015. The cuts are the largest faced by any of the school systems in the state. Allegany County is the poorest county in the state, with a median income of around $37,747.

“The state really needs to look at how the wealth formula is computed. This bill would be a benefit to Garrett and Allegany counties and potentially others if we can get it passed. It would also give the state time to study how we compute wealth for K-12 education and look at appropriate various changes to the formula,” said Edwards.

The wealth formula uses a calculation based on a number of financial factors some legislators believe results in a skewed appraisal of the financial condition of some counties and their ability to fund local schools.

The calculation is used to determine how much state aid goes to county school systems in Maryland.

“The futures of the children of Garrett and Allegany counties are being jeopardized due to massive losses in state funding for education,” said Beitzel in a news release.

Edwards and Beitzel had to fight the same battle last year. The two managed to convince their colleagues to add in extra funding for the two counties in the 2011 session.

Because of the budget cuts, the Garrett County Board of Education is examining the possible closure of up to three elementary schools.

“The citizens from these areas have made it clear that these schools are at the heart of the community and closing them would cause irreparable harm for the students and their families,” Beitzel said.

Contact Matthew Bieniek at mbieniek@times-news.com.

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Are the taxpayers really winning?

As president of the Anne Arundel County Fraternal Order of Police, I find myself looking back at County Executive John R. Leopold's column, "Budget choices: Taxpayers win again" (The Capital, June 2009).

This column was published almost two years afterThe Capital'sarticle, "Nonprofits lose, taxpayers win in county budget."

These articles, and others like them, received accolades from our conservative, tax-averse citizens. The taxpayers have had one victory after another under Leopold, as he successfully shaved pay and benefits for county government workers, and cut everything that could possibly be cut from an already lean county workforce. Are the taxpayers really winning? Maybe, like actor Charlie Sheen, they are "epic winning." Really?

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Gov.'s Budget Plan Does Not Restore Highway User Fees

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Jan. 27, 2011

Despite pleas from 157 Maryland cities and towns, Governor Martin O'Malley’s proposed fiscal year 2012 budget included no additional Highway User Revenue and Police Aid funding for hard-hit municipalities.
Municipal leaders had called on the governor to restore full funding for municipal Highway User Revenues and Police Aid in his proposal.

Most municipalities lost 82% of their total state aid in the FY 2011 budget, and the FY 2012 budget proposal maintains the same funding amounts.

Since 2008, Highway User Revenues for municipalities have been reduced by 95% and Police Aid has been reduced by 35%. Highway User Revenue is funded through the gas tax and other transportation-related fees and is designed to be returned to Maryland communities for ongoing transportation related projects such as road repair, street maintenance, and snow removal.

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Commissioners Approve New Budget, Keep Real Property Tax Rate At $.99

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Jun. 3, 2010


Making do with less money will be Garrett County government's objective in Fiscal Year 2011. The new operating and capital budget is $16.2 million less than FY 2010's and $31 million less than 2009's.

The county commissioners unanimously approved the new $68 million budget on Tuesday. Numerous county department heads and local residents attended the proceeding.

"This budget process began about two years ago, maybe even longer, when the county realized there were going to be some budget shortfalls and some reductions in available revenues," said county administrator Monty Pagenhardt.

Based on that realization, the commissioners set the real property tax rate for FY '11 at $.99 per $100 of assessed value, the same as the current fiscal year's. This will apply to all areas of the county except Mtn. Lake Park. Because of a tax differential agreement, property owners in that town will pay $.942. For FY '10, Mtn. Lake Park's rate is $.937.

"I think this is a very responsible budget," said Commissioner Ernie Gregg. "I wish we could have reduced the tax rate, but we do have a responsibility to provide basic services to our constituency, and I think we're doing that in a responsible manner."

The commissioners noted that if the tax rate were lowered, "drastic" measures would have to be taken, including employee furloughs and reduced work hours, resulting in a reduction of services.

"To my knowledge we're the only county that hasn't reduced work, that hasn't had furloughs, that hasn't had reduced hours," Pagenhardt said.

He attributed that to "strong financial management," particularly on the part of the Garrett County Department of Financial Services staff.

By keeping the tax rate the same, Financial Services director Wendy Yoder estimates the county will garner an additional $2.3 million in tax revenue in the new year. Local officials hope this will help offset substantial reductions in various revenues that have traditionally been allocated to counties by the state.

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County budget proposal a reflection of tough financial times

Megan Miller
Cumberland Times-News

Oakland — OAKLAND — The Garrett County Commission is reviewing a proposed budget that reflects hard times for the county and the state.

Garrett’s draft fiscal 2011 budget, which totals more than $68 million, anticipates that the county will have $16 million less to work with than the previous year.

County officials expect significant revenue decreases from income, recordation and local transfer taxes. That’s largely due to declines in the real estate market and increased unemployment, said County Administrator Monty Pagenhardt.

But officials do expect a $2.3 million increase in revenue from real property taxes, even though the proposed budget calls for the property tax rate to remain the same as in fiscal 2010.

The county commission is reviewing the estimated revenues and requested expenditures, and intends to set the budget on June 1.

“We have presented the commission with a balanced budget and they are now reviewing that, and will be getting input from the public,” Pagenhardt said.

The commission previously requested all departments make their budget requests level with the amount of funding they received in fiscal 2010.

That decision was based on a “realization that state of Maryland funding to the county and local revenue collected would be less than prior fiscal periods,” according to a news release issued by the county.

The proposed budget includes no pay increases for county employees, nor does it including funding to hire replacement personnel for 16 employees expected to retire on June 30.

In the budget draft, the county’s capital outlay was cut in half, from more than $1.1 million in fiscal 2010 to just $542,000. Half of that amount will probably go to maintenance and improvements to the Garrett County Detention Center, Pagenhardt said, though the county might be eligible for grant funds that could help cover the cost of that work.

The commission will hold a public hearing on the property tax rate at the start of its regular meeting on April 20, beginning at 11 a.m. Another meeting on the property tax rate will be held the same day at 7 p.m. at Garrett College.

The proposed budget was posted on the county’s Web site Monday morning, and can be viewed at http://www.garrettcounty.org/Commissioners/budget11/budget11.aspx



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Towns Reeling After 90% Slash In State Highway Users Revenue

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Feb. 11, 2010

by Don Sincell

While local residents are accustomed to coping with severe winter weather conditions, the two recent storms that have pushed the county's total snowfall for the winter of 2009-10 to over 180 inches could not have come at a worse time, particularly for Garrett County's eight incorporated municipalities.

Attempting to remove nearly two feet of snow from municipal roadways is expensive under the best of circumstances, and even more so when storms strike on weekends, which generally necessitates overtime for town crews. That hardship became much worse this winter because of recent major cuts in state aid to the towns.

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Md. Cutting County Disparity Grants; Garrett To Fare Better Than Others

Md. Cutting County Disparity Grants; Garrett To Fare Better Than Others


Jan. 21, 2010

With the fiscal year 2011 budget draft process under way, Garrett County Financial Services director Wendy Yoder is keeping an even closer eye on state reductions. She reviewed the most recent cut for the county commissioners during a departmental update report on Tuesday.
Just last week, Yoder received notification that state disparity grants will be reduced "across the board" in FY 2011. Grants are given to counties that do not meet at least 75 percent of the statewide average of local income tax revenues. Grant funding, however, is partly based on the state's capital gains and investments income.

In FY 2010, revenue is down almost $200 million from the previous year. As a result, the eight counties that traditionally receive disparity grants will have their allocations reduced. Garrett County is among them.

But Yoder said Garrett is lucky compared to most counties, especially Prince George's, which is facing an 84 percent decrease.

(more from Republican article)


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Tight state budget hitting Allegany, Garrett County

Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposed fiscal 2011 budget does not spare local governments, including Garrett and Allegany counties, from cuts in aid.

Details of the proposed budget, which takes effect July 1, were released Wednesday. As anticipated, both counties’ disparity grants and highway user revenue funds took hits, although most county aid programs will be flat-funded.

The disparity grant originally was worth nearly $7.3 million but O’Malley and the state Board of Public Works cut that by $1.267 million. The disparity grants are distributed to subdivisions whose per-capita income revenues are less than 75 percent of the statewide average.

“Well, the wealth of the state has declined,” said Jerry Frantz, director of finance for Allegany County government. “So, 75 percent of a lesser number is less disparity.”

One change this year is that regardless of what the disparity might be, the grant money cannot exceed 2010 levels. Allegany County’s disparity grant could be $6.03 million while Garrett County could receive $2.05 million.

“We’re not the only ones,” Frantz said. “All in all, it’s down $24.3 million. That’s 20 percent. We’re going down 17 percent.”

Under O’Malley’s proposed budget, Allegany County would receive $138,000 in Program Open Space funds and Garrett County would get $70,000. Funding for local health programs would include $909,000 for Allegany County and $437,000 for Garrett County.

Frantz said the highway user revenue was so important in previous years that his office created a special revenue fund for accounting purposes. That’s to be eliminated this year because the appropriation, formerly between $5 million and $6 million, is now “down to next to nothing.”

Any highway user revenue now will be deposited into the county’s general fund because, after state cuts, all the road work is “practically paid for by the general fund,” Frantz said.

One item not in O’Malley’s proposal is money for new voting machines. The omission could save the state and counties each about $9 million this year.

A full analysis of O’Malley’s proposed budget wasn’t available. Frantz said he typically waits for the Maryland Association of Counties, an Annapolis-based nonprofit corporation that advocates local governments’ interests, to release its analysis.

“It’s going to be another extremely difficult budget,” Frantz said. “And I think that 2012 may even be worse. I don’t see much light right now... I think there may be worse things coming.”


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Cuts create unsafe conditions, reps say

Cuts create unsafe conditions, reps say

Detention, juvenile centers operating with smaller staffs

Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — Representatives of the association responsible for negotiating for six of nine elements of Maryland government workers engaged in “a lively conversation” with all four members of the District 1 legislative delegation on Monday.

Sue Esty, assistant director of the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and Steve Berger, the organization’s Western Maryland representative, gathered with three correctional officers and Ed Shoemake, a resident advisor at Mountain Meadow Youth Center in Grantsville. They stressed during a 90-minute meeting with Sen. George Edwards and delegates Kevin Kelly, LeRoy Myers and Wendell Beitzel that state employees shouldn’t shoulder the load of resolving the state’s budget problems.

There have been enough furloughs and layoffs of state workers. It’s had “serious and tragic consequences for many of AFSCME’s 30,000 members across the state, Esty said.

One female correctional officer said North Branch Correctional Institution has eliminated overtime on her shift and has “collapsed posts” — reducing the number of required officers per shift at certain stations — on certain days of the week. She said the change has created “an unsafe environment for her and her colleagues.

The Times-News has opted not to identify the three correctional officers. Esty said all three feared the possibility of disciplinary action at work.

Berger said NBCI and Western Correctional Institution both are maximum-security facilities but are operated like medium-security facilities in that inmates have access to a gym, an outdoor recreation area and they eat meals with each other.

One male correctional officer said despite budget constraints within the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, which oversees all state prisons, programs for inmates have not been reduced.

“There’s a G.E.D. program for inmates with life sentences,” he said.

Shoemake, at Meadow Mountain Youth Center, said policy requires at least one staff person for every six children at the Garrett County facility. In reality, it frequently operates with a radio of 10 children for each of its four employees. Shoemake said he suffered injuries after being involved in an altercation with a child who stood 6-feet, 8-inches tall and weighed 360 pounds.

“I didn’t have staff to back me up, Shoemake said. “You cannot staff that facility with that amount of people” in a facility that never closes.

“Not only am I at risk, but the public’s becoming at risk,” he said.

Esty and Berger offered eight revenue-producing possibilities — including six taxes on alcohol, gasoline, Internet purchases and services such as auto repair that met with something less than enthusiasm from the delegation. The two also suggested using $325 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund and removing the sunset provision of the “millionaire’s tax” which, they claimed, could generate an additional $100 million.

Kelly said Allegany County is the second poorest county in Maryland and resented efforts to increase taxes on an already burdened constituency.

“Do you support new revenue?” Esty asked Kelly.

Kelly said that every one of Esty’s proposals were a tax on the people.

“I can not think of any (taxes I support) right now,” Kelly said.

Esty argued that the “economy has changed” and the proposed solutions each are “things that are responding to the economy.”

By taxing the services in a service-based society, she said, it could even lead to a lower tax rate.

Edwards countered that the solution can’t simply be to “tax people.” He said the delegation could consider refusing to endorse any new tax ideas without first changing the attitude in Annapolis.

Edwards said a primary goal should be to get lawmakers to consider cutting programs before considering any new taxes. He also said state colleges might have to raise tuition costs instead of freezing rates for a sixth consecutive year.



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Budget cuts, taxes concerns for Garrett County residents

Budget cuts, taxes concerns for Garrett County residents

Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News

MCHENRY —­ Don’t mind Joyce Bishoff if she is a bit perplexed.

During a November tourism conference in Ocean City, the interim president of the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce heard Gov. Martin O’Malley state that tourism is the only industry in the state that is showing a return on government’s investment.

Why, then, Bishoff asked Sen. George Edwards and Delegate Wendell Beitzel, would the state Office of Tourism slash Garrett County’s appropriation by 40 percent?

Bishoff said state tourism officials have signaled to her that the remaining 60 percent soon could be unavailable.

“This is causing some severe pains through the tourism industry,” Bishoff asked on Wednesday during the legislative delegation’s pre-legisative session at Garrett College. The two-hour event was coordinated by the local League of Women Voters chapter. Twelve speakers at the meeting discussed a wide range of topics, including tourism, wind turbines, natural gas, emergency services and funding for public education.

Bishoff said a request to the delegation by the Garrett County commissioners to introduce legislation that could lead to an increase in the accommodation tax, which would impact all hotels and beds-and-breakfasts in the county. The commissioners want the ability to increase the tax to up to 8 percent from the current 5 percent rate.

“We will continue our dialogue with the county commissioners as to our reservations,” Bishoff said. “We’re very concerned about raising any taxes. With so many areas of our economy in crisis, I think we need to do what we can do to encourage people to come here and spend their dollars from the city.”

James R. “Smokey” Stanton, chairman of the Garrett County Democratic Central Committee, asked the legislators to reject the commissioners’ request.

Stanton, who is expected to run for the District 1A delegation seat currently occupied by Beitzel, called it “a bad bill” and that area businesses depend on tourism. If rates were to go up, consumers would have a choice of other places such as Ocean City. Stanton said if such a bill is introduced, funds raised from that legislation should not be earmarked for a specific purpose.

“I would suggest that is a really bad idea,” Stanton said.

Representatives of Garrett County vacation rental agencies expressed their displeasure at the proposed legislation during the commissioners’ public meeting with the delegation in Oakland on Nov. 17. Wendy Yoder, county director of finance, said an increase of 1 percent could generate about $300,000 in new revenue.

Edwards said either bill would only permit the county commissioners to consider passing such a rate increase. It would not require them to do so “if they didn’t want to,” Edwards said. Most of the issues discussed during the public forum regarded state and local budgets. Beitzel said some economists have said the current crisis is the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression. But one key Garrett County industry — coal mining — is at risk despite its economic benefits, Beitzel said.

“I know there’s been a big effort to stop mountaintop removal of coal,” Beitzel said. “We don’t do that in Western Maryland (but) it turns out it may actually apply to all mountaintop mining. Coal has become a dirty, four-letter word, and we really need to fight and defend that industry here in Western Maryland.”

James M. Raley, member of the Garrett County Board of Education, said at the board’s meeting Tuesday, members learned that the board is looking at a decrease in funding from either the state or the county — or possibly both.

Next year, Raley said, the board is looking at a $2 million deficit, and there’s concern that there will be a push in Annapolis to shift the burden of funding teachers’ pensions to county governments. Currently, it is a state responsibility.

“That just compounds (the county’s) problem in regards to funding public education,” Raley said.

Garrett County Commissioner Fred Holliday shared Raley’s concern.

“There is no way we could eat it,” Holliday said. “We’d have to raise taxes. Then the commissioners are the bad guys.”



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