Budget Plan

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.

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 rich (and the Republicans that shill for them) have officially declared war on the poor. ("GOP pressing for budget cuts," Feb. 16) Since the '80s the rich have claimed a larger and larger percentage of wealth in the U.S. But there is never enough for them. God forbid we should end tax breaks for oil companies and wealthy Americans or cut in areas where there is the most waste (defense). Instead, they want to cut aid to the neediest, throw people out of work in a time of high unemployment, and cut funding for research and investment.

Harford Community College students could have to pay $8 more per credit hour next year, nearly 10 percent more, even as the college plans to spend less to operate than it expects to spend this year. HCC officials also plan to spend nearly $12 million in capital building and renovation projections next year to add and upgrade facilities. The college is anticipating spending $45.6 million to operate in the fiscal year beginning July 1, which is about 1.4 percent less than in the current budget year, John Cox, HCC's vice president for finance, operations and government relations, said at Tuesday evening's monthly HCC Board of Trustees meeting.

Earlier this year, in an address to the nation after the horrific shooting spree in Tucson, Ariz., President Barack Obama implored Americans to work together, saying, "All of us — we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations. " Though there is general agreement that our country must always consider the future and invest in the education and health of our children, many would argue that adults have not lived up to our children's expectations.

Harford Community College students could have to pay $8 more per credit hour next year, nearly 10 percent more, even as the college plans to spend less to operate than it expects to spend this year. HCC officials also plan to spend nearly $12 million in capital building and renovation projections next year to add and upgrade facilities. The college is anticipating spending $45.6 million to operate in the fiscal year beginning July 1, which is about 1.4 percent less than in the current budget year, John Cox, HCC's vice president for finance, operations and government relations, said at Tuesday evening's monthly HCC Board of Trustees meeting.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said Tuesday morning that the Senate, House and governor are have different ideas about how to close the state's $1 billion projected budget shortfall, and he's planning to send several options to the floor including a "doomsday" plan made up entirely by cuts. Miller said he's also considering a budget plan that would involve "different revenues" than those Gov. Martin O'Malley suggested in his spending plan, but did not specify what any would be. The Senate president added that his chamber is getting considerable "push back" from critics of O'Malley's proposal to cap income tax deductions.

Anne Arundel County residents would see their property taxes increase under the $1.2 billion budget proposed Monday by County Executive John R. Leopold, but that would be partially offset by a drop in trash pickup frequency and fees. County workers, meanwhile, would see an end to furloughs but receive no raises. Leopold's spending plan for the year that begins July 1 includes boosting the tax rate from 91 cents to 94.1 cents per $100 of assessed value. For a home with an assessed value of $261,200, the forecast countywide average, taxes would go up by about $128 for the year, officials said.

The Anne Arundel County Council was to act today on a proposed $616.6 million operating budget that includes no tax increase.The council and County Executive Robert Neall have tentatively agreed to endorse a proposal to redistrict schools, shifting as many as 15,000 students and saving about $50 million.The school board has the final say on that plan.Anne Arundel would join Carroll, which approved its budget yyesterday, and Harford counties and the city of Baltimore in maintaining their tax rates.

Your recent editorial on state finances preferred the House of Delegates' version of next year's budget over the Senate's budget plan because of its smaller tax bite ("A better plan," March 27). The House version, though, provides less ongoing revenue and a smaller year-end balance. The result: A $200 million shortfall for the legislature to resolve this time next year. In order to bridge that gap, the state will either need to revisit its options for new taxes or make more cuts to local schools, college affordability, access to health care and other community services.

Standing side by side, Gov. Martin O'Malley and the state's two top legislative leaders unveiled the broad outlines of the budget plan they hope to enact quickly during a special session next week. The plan will raise income taxes on those making more than $100,000 a year (households making more than $150K), a House-backed proposal similar to the one that budget conferees agreed to in the final hours of session. It also makes deeper cuts than the budget O'Malley initially submitted in January.

Anne Arundel County residents would see their property taxes increase under the $1.2 billion budget proposed Monday by County Executive John R. Leopold, but that would be partially offset by a drop in trash pickup frequency and fees. County workers, meanwhile, would see an end to furloughs but receive no raises. Leopold's spending plan for the year that begins July 1 includes boosting the tax rate from 91 cents to 94.1 cents per $100 of assessed value. For a home with an assessed value of $261,200, the forecast countywide average, taxes would go up by about $128 for the year, officials said.

Gov. Martin O"Malley's $69.5 million supplemental budget, an update to the overall state budget that usually comes to the General Assembly late in its 90-day session, would add 85 positions in the Office of the Public Defender to deal with a Court of Appeals decision expanding the right to representation at bail review hearings -- putting the executive brance above its limit of full-time employees. To bring the state under the limit set by the legislature's Joint Committeee on Spending Affordability, legislative analysts are recommending that lawmakers require the governor to trim 77 positions from its payroll over the next budget year, which starts July 1. The spending affordability panel has set a goal of limiting the number of full-time positions to just over 79,000.

Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown stepped into the role of surrogate for President Obama Monday as he joined in a conference call to denounce former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's record on veterans' issues, the federal budget and the GOP presidential candidate's charge this weekend that Obama doesn't believe in "American exceptionalism. " Brown, a veteran of the Iraq war, charged that Romney was "out of touch with reality" and "went over the line" with his criticism of Obama. The lieutenant governor pointed to Obama's debut on the national stage in 2004 as a speech that was all about American exceptionalism.

Your recent editorial on state finances preferred the House of Delegates' version of next year's budget over the Senate's budget plan because of its smaller tax bite ("A better plan," March 27). The House version, though, provides less ongoing revenue and a smaller year-end balance. The result: A $200 million shortfall for the legislature to resolve this time next year. In order to bridge that gap, the state will either need to revisit its options for new taxes or make more cuts to local schools, college affordability, access to health care and other community services.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is proposing to close more than half of Baltimore's small neighborhood pools this summer to trim costs - a plan some City Council members say they will fight. While the city's six large pools in public parks, such as those in Patterson Park and Druid Hill Park, would remain open, seven of 13 neighborhood pools would not, Recreation and Parks Director Gregory Bayor said Tuesday. City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young and other council members said they oppose the closures and would lobby the mayor to keep the pools open, as they did two years ago when Young protested a shortened swimming season.

WASHINGTON -- The Republicans took an important step toward balancing the federal budget yesterday when the House approved a spending blueprint that promises to cut taxes and eliminate the deficit by 2002.The savings in the budget resolution would come largely from slowing the growth of Medicare and Medicaid and by slashing a wide swath through the federal bureaucracy, wiping out hundreds of programs. The GOP plan sets the outlines for more than $1 trillion in spending cuts over seven years; the details would be determined by Congress late this summer.

Baltimore would offer no cost-of-living raises to city workers and no cut in the property tax rate to homeowners under the preliminary budget plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's $2.2 billion proposal stresses public safety and education. The city would hire 80 more police officers and 81 more teachers, although the overall number of city workers would grow by just 54.The austere budget plan, which officials said is made necessary by a decline in property tax revenues, will be presented next week before the Board of Estimates, the first public step in the two-month process for adopting a budget.

While Carroll County's unemployment rate remains low and there are signs of modest economic recovery, the county's budget office said this week it could not present the Board of County Commissioners with a balanced operating budget for fiscal year 2013 without hard decisions by the commissioners. County Management and Budget Director Ted Zaleski told the commissioners March 21 that policy decisions will need to be made to balance this coming year's budget plan, as well as the longer-range FY 2013-18 plan.

Editor: As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I have been very busy working on the state budget for the last six weeks. The Minority party members of Appropriations crafted a budget plan that relies on level funding the budget based on last year's spending. This is a reasonable and level headed plan that balances the budget without raising taxes or shifting expenses to the counties. Our plan would cut over $1 billion in increased spending...