Budget

Four trucks laden with 100 slot machines arrived early Wednesday morning at the nearly completed casino at Arundel Mills mall. For the next two hours, workers wheeled banks of the gleaming new machines, one by one, inside on hand trucks. Installation of the first set of slots moved Maryland Live! Casino, the state's largest, another step closer to its scheduled opening in three months. That's progress for Maryland's lackluster gambling program, which has yet to be fully implemented more than three years after voters approved five slots locations statewide.

Enough is enough. Partisan politics in Maryland has hit an all-time low. As Maryland is hurling headlong into financial ruin, the working, legal resident taxpayers are being taxed to the hilt. Both parties have their collective heads in the sand or at least their party leaders can't see the reality we face every day. Democrats and Republicans refuse to budge or do the dance of moderation only to swing back when the party leaders pull their puppet strings in time to cast their pre-arranged vote in a well orchestrated sham for television.

The state Senate voted Thursday to significantly raise taxes on Marylanders earning half a million dollars or more — prompting complaints that liberals were bent on launching class warfare in the state. The Senate's vote to adopt what is being dubbed a "millionaire's tax" came after some liberal-leaning senators said they would refuse to support a smaller, across-the-board increase in income taxes unless the wealthy took a special hit. The chamber was considering a plan to raise taxes on most Maryland taxpayers by up to a quarter of a percentage point — a proposal that eventually passed by a vote of 26-20.

The Baltimore County Council unanimously approved Thursday the spending plan proposed by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz for the coming fiscal year, a $1.65 billion operating budget that includes no furloughs, layoffs or tax increases. The lean budget, which goes into effect in July, relies heavily on savings from retirements, attrition and reorganizations in county agencies. The county will have 7 percent fewer employees than in the previous year. The council emphasized that local government would have less to work with as employees try to deliver the same level of services.

Maryland Senate President Mike "Boss" Miller has now extended the bounds of his seemingly boundless manipulation of Maryland by holding a special session of the General Assembly needed to pass a budget hostage to his lust for table games inPrince George's County("Leaders float the idea of two special sessions," April 25). If the two-session compromise goes into effect, the second session should be held at that fount of political influence, Atlantic City. This will make a great movie someday; one only hopes that John Goodman will be available to play the Boss.

The big reveal at the end of Sunday night's episode of "Game of Thrones" is that the Stark children, Bran and Rickon, are not only alive, but hiding right beneath Theon Greyjoy's nose in Winterfell. So much for Greyjoy's relentless hunt. Theon should have to duel Joffrey for the title of "World's Second Most Incompetent Leader. " Anyway, the news that the Stark children are alive was the biggest piece of plot development that happened in "The Prince of Winterfell," the eighth episode of Season 2. Other than that (and Jaime Lannister's escape, which I'll get into below)

On April 17, I will be protesting war taxes at Baltimore's main post office. I realize that taxes fund many good programs - education, environment and diplomacy. But sadly when 57 percent of the federal budget goes to the Pentagon, the government's priorities are out of touch with the pressing problems facing its citizens. Instead of investing in a clean energy future and prioritizing human and environmental needs, we are somehow still caught in the outdated and dangerous thinking of the past.

During the last election County Executive Kevin Kamenetz spoke about how Baltimore County was fiscally under control. Now, they have a $38.5 million shortfall ("Kamenetz seeks to raise Baltimore County Business license fees," Feb. 26), so he wants to increase business licenses fees to create $1.2 million annually. I guess he doesn't see what is happening in Wisconsin. If he would cut his budget, he would not need the extra monies. He could start by reducing the pension and benefits the County Council enjoys.

Members of Congress must all have personal finance managers to manage their family budgets because otherwise Congress would be the largest single group of people filing for bankruptcy protection. Why would any of us try to solve our family financial problems by cutting our spending to the bone, while at the same time trying to find ways to reduce our income? Yet this is exactly how Congress is attempting to solve our national budget problem. The House of Representative is focusing solely on finding ways to cut spending and reduce taxes while ignoring the glaring need to also find ways of increasing income.

Negotiations to reach a final deal on the Maryland state budget were put off Saturday morning, raising new questions about whether the General Assembly can complete its work by the time it is scheduled to end its 90-day session Monday night. The cancellation of the planned 8:30 a.m. meeting of the budget conference committees fell through just hours after a House subcommittee unveiled a plan to radically rewrite the Senate's bill to expand casino gambling in Maryland -- a move that would likely doom the legislation.

This is the season when local governments finalize their budgets for the next fiscal year, and the grousing about their penurious circumstances is in full swing. Some are even complaining that the state's revised budget and tax plan - signed into law by Gov.Martin O'Malleythis week - has put a serious crimp in their finances. In particular, they blame the state's decision to shift a portion of the cost of teacher retirement contributions to Baltimore City and the counties as ruinous to their own budgets.

There is a saying that "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. " That seems to sum up the Republican approach to all issues. The latest example is the GOP-controlled House, which just passed a budget bill that bans the use of military facilities for gay marriages. Gay discrimination in the military has ended. Gay marriage is legal is many states. Yet the Republicans have used a religious approach to everything and now have applied it the budget. There is medical condition in which fluid builds up in the wrist, causing swelling that looks like a small knot on the skin.

The Baltimore City school board voted Tuesday to pass the district's proposed $1.31 billion budget, which includes a decrease in the per-pupil funding for charter schools. As the amount spent on students in traditional schools increases, the system's 33 charter schools will see their per-pupil expenditures drop by $257 from 2012, for a total of $9,007. The overall amount for charters, however, has steadily increased as their populations grow. The charters are funded differently than traditional schools.

Plastic surgery and Botox made 40 the new 30. In this month's special session of the General Assembly, Maryland's Democratic legislators made $100,000 the new $1 million. Unlike doctors and pharmaceuticals, however, members of the state's majority party can't defy reality. Worse, they are not willing to learn from their mistakes. Just five years ago, only people who made $1 million or more per year were labeled rich by elected officials, who crafted a special tax just for them.

Members of the Harford County Council agreed Tuesday to hold funding for a large portion of the planned Emergency Operations Center replacement in next year's capital budget. The plan to replace the building near Routes 1 and 543 in the Hickory area is expected to cost more than $40 million, according to current county budget estimates. "My biggest concern is the necessity of moving forward at this time when I share a little bit more concern with our debt service issues than the county executive does," County Council President Billy Boniface said.

Baltimore County Council members are poised to adopt a lean spending plan that would achieve savings largely through early retirements and reorganizations in a number of government departments. The council made only one cut Thursday to the $1.65 billion operating budget County Executive Kevin Kamenetz recommended in April. Members trimmed the Department of Public Works' fuel budget for dump trucks and other equipment by about $208,000 because the county auditor found that the administration had overestimated the cost of fuel.

Maryland's General Assembly failed to pass a balanced budget, according to a memo obtained by The Baltimore Sun. Enacting a balanced budget is the legislature's primary constitutional requirement. "The [fiscal year] 2013 budget is nearly $70 million out of balance," wrote Budget Secretary T. Eloise Foster in a memo to all of Gov. Martin O'Malley's Cabinet secretaries. She recommended that the governor not sign any legislation that reduces revenues "until the imbalance is addressed.

Our state elected officials continue to amaze me - and not in as good way. Our legislature had 90 days to do its work, its most important task being the budget. Ninety days was not long enough to take a hard look at programs and expenses and make the difficult choices necessary to cut spending and balance our budget? Now, we the taxpayers will foot the bill for a special session because our elected officials couldn't do their job? Only in government. Let's take the doomsday budget.

They did what they had to do, and they went home. That's the best that can be said of the special session of the Maryland General Assembly that concluded today. The tax increases, spending cuts, fund transfers and other measures lawmakers approved in 21/2 days this week protect public education, health and public safety and put the state on a path to fiscal sustainability, all while requiring a relatively minimal additional contribution from taxpayers. After a chaotic end to the regular General Assembly session, order has been restored.

Baltimore city CEO Andres Alonso told city council leaders Tuesday that the school system is not in the financial position to inherit recreation centers that are slated for closure in the city budget, after being peppered by council members about the system's ability to bail out endangered youth programs. Following a presentation on the school system's $1.31 billion budget-- presented last week and due to be approved by the school board on May 22-- Alonso was asked by City Council President Bernard"Jack" Young to clarify the system's stance on taking over rec centers, saying that he was dubious about the option given that the system doesn't even have enough money to maintain its own school facilities.