Bob Robertson watched quietly from the back of the room as the Howard County Council approved development review fees that might not cover the salary for the job he's held for a quarter-century.
The agronomist remained stoic, even though the fees that will pay his and co-worker Geof Schoming's salaries are much lower than those requested by the independently run Howard County Soil Conservation District. He took some comfort in the council's promise during last week's session that if the fees do not cover costs, the agency can request during the county's annual budget review in April that they be raised.
"I guess if they're willing to take [another] look at it, it could be OK," said Robertson, 53. "I'll be fine."
The unusual, months-long budget battle was nominally over a $220,000 savings in the $1.4 billion county budget for fiscal year 2010, but the intense fight seemed to indicate higher stakes. It pitted Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, a champion of environmental causes, against a tiny, old-line 11-member agricultural agency based in Woodbine whose leaders say environmental protection is their main goal.
Ulman said he wanted to move the reviewers' work in-house to county planners and engineers to save the money, while Soil Conservation District officials said it was a power grab that threatened the integrity of the work.
The new fees are intended to replace county funding that ended July 1 for the two plan-review jobs. Soil Conservation District officials ran out of money and threatened to stop all development reviews by Aug. 28, but personal donations from the five volunteer supervisor/trustees are paying for part-time work during September.
In the end, developers appeared to be the winners in the dispute, having persuaded the County Council to sharply reduce the fees the agency can charge for reviewing erosion- and sediment-control plans. Soil Conservation District officials had requested a fee of $175 per acre of disturbed earth, but the council lowered that to $75 an acre with an overall maximum charge of $1,800. The council also refused to go along with a requested $150 flat fee for reviewing sediment plans.
Developers will pay the fees to the county, which will disburse the money to the Soil Conservation District. The county is providing $550,011 to the district this fiscal year, plus two vehicles, gasoline, repairs, telephone and computer support, and administrative services, according to Howard's budget director, Raymond S. Wacks.
