Mayor Martin O'Malley plans to deliver a harsh critique of the Ehrlich administration's plans for funding its top road-building priority today in an appearance before a task force on transportation funding.
O'Malley said he will tell a commission headed by former state Transportation Secretary William K. Hellmann that he has serious concerns that the administration's plan for building the proposed Intercounty Connector in the Washington suburbs would take money away from Baltimore and other parts of the state.
"My message is one of equity," O'Malley said. "I think it is a good project. I'm in favor of it -- but not to the exclusion of every other project in the state."
O'Malley said he is concerned that in building the ICC, the state might rely too heavily on bonds backed by future federal transportation aid. The Ehrlich administration is considering using such bonds to finance more than half the estimated $1.7 billion cost of the ICC.
The Transportation Department has estimated the cost of servicing those bonds at $60 million a year for 30 years. That would be roughly equivalent to the projected annual increases in federal transportation aid, which now runs about $430 million a year.
O'Malley's criticism may foreshadow an important line of attack against Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. as the mayor develops themes for a widely expected campaign for governor in 2006.
The broadside also presents a contrast with Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, O'Malley's likely rival for the Democratic nomination and a vocal backer of the highway connecting Interstate 270 with Interstate 95.
David Weaver, a spokesman for Duncan, said recently that the county executive does not object to the financing concept the state Transportation Department presented to the Hellmann panel Sept. 9. Duncan has criticized other aspects of Ehrlich's transportation policies.
The mayor also expressed wariness about the administration's consideration of using higher tolls to reduce congestion on the ICC at times of peak demand.
"Generally speaking, it's best that our modes of transportation be open to as many of our citizens as possible," O'Malley said.
The mayor said the administration lacks a "statewide vision for transportation."
Robert L. Flanagan, Ehrlich's transportation secretary, questioned whether O'Malley's criticism means he now opposes the project.
