Budget Director

WASHINGTON -- Joshua B. Bolten may be as much a loyalist as the rest of President Bush's inner circle, but he cuts a very distinct profile outside the West Wing: He rides a motorcycle, is a bowling maniac and keeps a copy of the children's book Walter the Farting Dog on his coffee table. That gives Bolten a rare dash of idiosyncrasy in a notoriously buttoned-down White House, where he will soon replace Andrew H. Card Jr. as chief of staff. Bolten, 51, brings other attributes that could help the White House in these troubled times, with congressional Republicans in open revolt and Bush's policy agenda at sea: He has experience working on Capitol Hill and, as Bush's budget director the last three years, has mastered broad swaths of domestic policy.

Howard County's budget shortfall is growing instead of shrinking as the fiscal year enters its final quarter before ending June 30. What was a projected deficit of $13 million two weeks ago has swollen to about $20 million due to growing snow removal costs and a decline in state income tax payments, county budget director Raymond S. Wacks told the County Council at a meeting Monday. "This is a difficult time for us," Wacks said. "We've had more snow than Buffalo this year."

WASHINGTON -- House Democratic leaders and White House budget Director Richard G. Darman clashed yesterday on some of the basic elements of President Bush's budget package, indicating a long battle over spending and tax policy before the ++ November election.At the outset of a House Budget Committee hearing on the $1.52 trillion Bush budget, Rep. Leon E. Panetta, D-Calif., accused the administration of reviving the "same smoke and mirrors, the kind of budget gimmicks we saw in the 1980s" to try to minimize mammoth deficits.

The gold-filigreed mirrors, mauve drapes and crystal chandeliers in the banquet room offered a peculiar setting for the county commissioners to reflect on a year of economic blight and relentless slashing of budgets and services.Speaking at a Carroll County Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Martin's Westminster Thursday, the three commissioners said they were relieved that 1991 is behind them."There's no escaping it -- this has been the year of the budget,"said Commissioner Elmer C. Lippy. "It's been a tough year for all ofus."

The Baltimore County Fire Department, short 75 firefighters because of retirements, needs $1.3 million to make ends meet through the fiscal year that ends June 30. Fire Chief John F. O'Neill asked the County Council yesterday for approval to take $1.3 million from other county departments to pay overtime costs to cover shifts left open by retirements, injuries, illnesses, vacations and other obligations. O'Neill said the added costs could not have been foreseen when the department drew up its budget last year because officials had no way to anticipate how many firefighters would be unavailable because of sickness or retirements.

Once again, it appears Howard County has escaped any major loss of state revenue, though state funding is still declining in several areas. "Overall, it could have been a lot worse," County Executive Ken Ulman said as the General Assembly closed in on a final state budget. It would have been worse, he added, if not for support from Gov. Martin O'Malley, who helped keep the General Assembly from laying a big hit on all local governments by transferring teacher pension costs to them.

WASHINGTON - President Bush sent Congress a $2.23 trillion spending plan punctuated with red ink yesterday. Putting dollar signs on one of the most ambitious presidential agendas in years, he called for the largest increase in military spending in a generation and $1.3 trillion in new tax cuts. His 2004 budget reflects the increased cost of fighting terrorism at home and abroad. It fails, however, to include the expense of a war with Iraq, which has been estimated at $50 billion to $200 billion or more.

Howard County Executive James N. Robey unveiled a $98 million capital budget proposal yesterdaythat is 24 percent smaller than this fiscal year's, but fueled by enough surplus cash to plan for a new Fulton high school, a disputed in-line skating pavilion and a new Ellicott Mills Middle School. Robey said he resisted seeking more in order to begin reducing the county's $400 million debt -- a burden that would cost $45 million in operating budget cash just in interest payments next fiscal year.

What a difference a year can make in the aspirations of county government.It was the summer of 1990, before the gulf war erupted, andto most people, the word "recession" was associated with the mid-1970s Arab oil crisis or the early Reagan years before the economic glory days of the mid-1980s.County department directors still were thinking big, showing little restraint in making an all-time-high request of $91.7 million worth of public facility projects, such as roads, schools, libraries, senior centers and government offices, for fiscal 1992.

Baltimore officials are bracing for the potential of another round of deep budget cuts, as they draw up early spending plans to address a "significant" shortfall next year. City agency heads confirmed Thursday they were instructed to pare 5 percent of their spending as they craft preliminary budget proposals for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The mayor's press secretary stressed that the administration was in the "very early stages of the budget process," and said agencies would be asked to draft proposals for other financial scenarios as well.