Balance The Budget

If you think Maryland suffers from profligate government spending, you probably don't have a child with a developmental disability. Those who do know that the waiting list for services - short-term temporary care, perhaps, or a vocational program - is an unacceptable 16,820 families long. And here's the rub: Even if Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to resolve the state's $1.7 billion budget deficit is approved by the General Assembly, new taxes and all, the list will continue to be just as long.

Miller, Busch plan `doomsday budget' Maryland's legislative leaders are preparing a "doomsday budget" to show how much would have to be cut to eliminate the state's $1.5 billion shortfall without raising new revenues. Both House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller have called for tax increases -- and, in Miller's case, for legalizing slot machines -- to balance the budget without resorting to deep cuts. Rather than a blueprint for how to solve the fiscal problems, the "doomsday budget" is more likely to be used as a scare tactic to show legislators and voters how much pain they would have to endure if no new revenues are approved.

Last week's news that the federal budget deficit will be smaller than expected this year is roughly comparable to the crew of the Titanic learning the ocean liner is sinking more slowly than feared. A dramatic rescue is nonetheless necessary to avoid disaster. President Bush and the Democratic-led Congress now share the joint objective of balancing the budget by 2012. But that can't be done without retiring at least some of the president's tax cuts, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley will include full funding for a key land-preservation program in his budget for next year, keeping a major campaign promise to the state's environmentalists, his administration announced yesterday. Money from Program Open Space, which is funded through transfer taxes on real estate transactions, was shifted to other programs in recent years to help balance the budget. Although O'Malley faces a small revenue shortfall this year and larger ones in the near future, he said in a letter to environmental groups that he will fully fund the preservation program in the fiscal year that starts July 1. "The structural deficit will force us to make difficult decisions together and require structural reforms to make our government more efficient, but we must also continue to make the critical investments necessary to move our state forward - investments in programs like Program Open Space," O'Malley wrote.

In a rare disagreement with the governor, Comptroller William Donald Schaefer joined the state treasurer yesterday in rejecting the administration's plan to reduce the property tax rate by a penny. The decision comes weeks after the state Senate rejected a House of Delegates plan to roll back property taxes for the same reason Schaefer gave: a concern that cuts now will leave the state short of cash in the next few years and force either unpalatable spending reductions or tax increases.

A petition signed by hundreds of state workers complaining about proposed increases to their health insurance costs was delivered to state budget officials yesterday as a small group of employees huddled in the rain to protest the planned charges. "They want to balance the budget on our shoulders," said David Harding, a computer operator in the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and a leader of a union that represents some of the state's nearly 100,000 employees and retirees. "It's gone too far."

The Maryland Senate approved a $23.6 billion state budget yesterday that taps reserve accounts for hundreds of millions of dollars and imposes a sales tax on salty snack foods. The House of Delegates, meanwhile, is embarking on a different direction that could include a 1-cent sales tax increase or a surcharge on the state's wealthiest residents. House Democrats plan to meet Monday in an effort to reach consensus on taxes needed to close a projected budget gap and pay for a landmark public schools program.

Howard County's Republican Del. Gail H. Bates and Democrat Del. Elizabeth Bobo don't often agree, but they're both strongly opposed to slot machine gambling in Maryland - though for different reasons. "I'm a Southern Baptist. We believe that people should make a living by the work of their hands," said Bates, who said fellow Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has been very understanding about her religious objections to gambling. Bobo's reasons are secular. "I think it's the worst public policy proposal I've ever seen in Annapolis.

IS THE 2003 General Assembly prepared to make history? Maryland lawmakers have a long tradition of getting their work done on time and going home. Only once since 1917, when the state constitution was amended to include a balanced-budget provision, has the Assembly failed to pass a spending plan during its 90-day session. The year was 1992, and William Donald Schaefer was governor, R. Clayton Mitchell Jr. was House speaker and, yes, Thomas V. Mike Miller was president of the Senate. State tax revenues had dropped from one year to the next.

GOV. ROBERT L. Ehrlich Jr. should acknowledge that his slot machine bill is fatally flawed and abandon it. This spavined legislative nag barely made it to the starting gate, stumbled coming out and may never get a view of the backstretch. Embarrassments abound. One house of the General Assembly works furiously to rewrite the governor's bill, while the other house persists in ignoring it. Maryland's powerful governors usually get their way - and gambling gold is alluring - yet the outlook for Mr. Ehrlich's centerpiece legislation is dim. Even if slots were advisable - and they aren't - this bill needs the kind of overhaul that can't be done well under a deadline.