Budget Proposal

Paul Ryan, the Republican representative from Wisconsin who heads the House budget committee, deserves tremendous credit for the deficit reduction proposal he unveiled today. While his colleagues are squabbling about a few billion in symbolic cuts to the current year's federal budget — and threatening a government shutdown in the process — he has taken the politically risky but necessary step of advancing a proposal for the next fiscal year and beyond that would tackle the real sources of our federal budget problems: Medicare and Medicaid, corporate tax loopholes, excessive defense spending, agriculture subsidies and more.

Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman is scheduled to unveil her first-ever county budget on Wednesday in Annapolis. Neuman took over as county executive in February after the resignation of former executive John R. Leopold, following his conviction on misconduct in office charges. On Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the Arundel Center, Neuman is scheduled to deliver a message outlining her proposed budget plan. Then, at 1 p.m., the County Council is slated to hold the first of several budget review sessions. The public is invited to attend the budget review session, but public testimony will not be part of that meeting.  The county will host public hearings on the budget on May 8, 7 to 10 p.m., at the Chesapeake Arts.

Class sizes would rise in Baltimore County next school year under Superintendent Joe A. Hairston's budget proposal, which includes a freeze on filling about 200 vacant teaching positions, even as the system experiences a surge in enrollment. Hairston, who presented his plan to the school board Wednesday night, is also proposing a 5 percent decrease in central office and individual school budgets that would require principals to cut back on purchasing supplies and equipment. Hairston's $1.2 billion operating budget for the fiscal year beginning in July would increase over last year by $6.5 million, or 0.5 percent.

It's facile to say that if the extreme right and left of American politics dislike something, it must be a good idea, but in the case of President Barack Obama's budget proposal, it may be true. The president is taking one more stab at a "grand bargain" on the budget that would reduce deficits to a manageable size, through a combination of tax increases and spending cuts - including cuts to Medicare and Social Security. Some liberal groups are promising primary challenges to any Democrats who vote for a reduction in future Social Security benefits.

The Columbia Association proposed a $33.4 million 1995-1996 operating budget yesterday that maintains the planned community's current property levy, creates a few new programs, increases salaries 4 percent and raises rates for recreational memberships.The nonprofit association also released a $6 million capital budget proposal that includes $1.4 million to buy land and develop a recreational vehicle storage facility to help residents comply with covenants.CA President Padraic Kennedy said the spending proposals reflect the desires of the 10-member Columbia Council, the association's elected board of directors.

Hoping to take advantage of the governor's plans to reduce class size, Baltimore County schools Superintendent Anthony G. Marchione proposed last night adding 50 math and reading teachers to next year's budget.Marchione also added 23 special education teachers to his spending plan for 1999-2000, which means that his proposed budget has 168 more classroom positions than this year's budget.The proposals were made at the start of the school board's work session on the operating budget for next year.

With plans to curb school violence and dropout rates and bolster salaries for some administrators, the Maryland State Board of Education has approved a $3 billion budget proposal and a still-incomplete wish list worth about $30 million more.Though warned of a possible state budget deficit, the board, which met yesterday and Monday in Baltimore, expanded its 1997-1998 wish list by $3 million and four projects. It also authorized department officials to draw up two more items, including one that would raise the salary scale for about 300 employees at the central offices.

One of the Baltimore region's largest employers - and administrators of the federal government's biggest program - has said it might need to furlough employees for 10 days without pay next year under a budget proposal awaiting a vote in the U.S. Senate. The Woodlawn-based Social Security Administration has, in the past year, resorted to cutbacks in service and personnel that some employees say have ruined morale at the 64,000-person agency. For every three workers that leave the agency, one is being replaced, and new checks for fraud and mistakes in disability payments, a process that the agency says saves the government $10 for every $1 spent, have been stopped.

WASHINGTON -- From the moment President Clinton offered his budget proposal, the White House has repeatedly characterized it as a bold and courageous departure from business-as-usual.Cabinet officers, administration spokesmen, the vice president -- even Mr. Clinton himself -- unabashedly describe this budget as some kind of revolutionary document. Interior Secretary Bruce E. Babbitt actually used that word, "revolutionary."In a subsequent radio address, Mr. Clinton said that his plan "makes dramatic reductions in deficit spending, over 150 specific cuts in domestic programs, and asks a contribution from every American based on his or her ability to pay -- all to get the deficit down."

Baltimore County schools need nearly $600 million -- $45 million more than this year -- to maintain the status quo in 1995-1996, Superintendent Stuart Berger told the school board last night.His $599.2 million budget proposal represents an 8.13 percent increase over current spending and asks for $9 million more in state funds and $36 million more from the county.Aside from proposing additional teachers to meet enrollment increases, the budget asks for new money to buy additional computers, hire assistant principals and replace old school buses.

Eighteen months after Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake voted to approve the purchase of four new helicopters for the Police Department, her proposed budget called for grounding one of them in a cost-saving move. But within days, the administration reversed course and said Thursday it intends to keep all four choppers flying in the unit known as Foxtrot. Police likely will have to find the projected $1 million in savings elsewhere in their budget. It is unclear how the cut became part of the proposed budget, which was unveiled last week.

City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young plans to renew the contract of an independent budget analyst who last year helped to design an alternative proposal to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's budget. Young will ask the city's Board of Estimates Wednesday to approve $21,000 for city retiree Larry Shapiro, who will advise Young and other council members on fiscal issues. Lester Davis, a spokesman for Young, said Shapiro was instrumental in developing an alternative budget proposal, which sought to keep fire companies and recreation centers from closing last year.

Anne Arundel County schools Superintendent Kevin Maxwell has proposed a $1.01 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2014 that includes $16.6 million for employee raises and $4.5 million for increases in health care costs. It marks the first time that the state's fifth-largest school system has crafted a budget request that crosses the billion-dollar threshold. Maryland's four largest school systems (Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Baltimore County and Baltimore City)

A group of Roman Catholic nuns traveling across nine states to protest a national budget proposal that cuts social service programs briefly stopped at Loyola University Maryland on Saturday. Known as the "Nuns on the Bus," the group, made up of sisters from different states, is protesting the current House budget, drafted by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. The bus, sponsored by the Network lobbyist organization, has been drawing rallies at the offices of members of Congress over the past two weeks, where they say many supporters have come out in a show of support.

MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blakesays the City Council is putting Baltimore residents at risk from increased crime, among other calamities, because of its preliminary decision to cut about $6 million from her $2.3 billion budget proposal. She has called the effort, led by Council PresidentBernard C. "Jack" Young, to divert some money into increased funding for recreation centers, youth employment and after school programs "unadvisable, unworkable and irresponsible. " Indeed, there is an opportunity cost associated with many of the council's proposed cuts - if not so dire a consequence as the mayor predicts.

Baltimore City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Younghas been complaining for years that MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blakeisn't placing a high enough priority on recreation centers, after-school programs and other services for Baltimore's youth. Now, with just a few weeks to go before the city's deadline to approve a budget for the next fiscal year, he's actually doing something about it. The council president is upending the generally quiescent City Council review of the mayor's spending proposal and suggesting some real changes to fund those priorities, as well as to prevent the closure of three fire stations and mitigate a sharp increase in municipal workers' health care costs.

Mayor Sheila Dixon's $2.2 billion budget for next year is no nip-and-tuck affair. It's austere across the board, but retains basic services without raising Baltimore's property tax rate, the highest in the state. The mayor was able to keep the focus on public safety, which is essential if Baltimore wants to continue last year's decrease in city murders. The budget also holds the line on after-school programs and summer jobs for city youths, another priority of Ms. Dixon, and maintains the city's financial commitment to schools as they continue needed reforms.

The Glen Burnie Improvement Association unveiled a $185,000 budget proposal last night for next year, with the bulk of the 9.1 percent increase over the current budget going toward community programs.The proposal, which will not be discussed publicly and voted on until the civic group's December meeting, represents a $15,400 increase over the current $169,600 budget.The GBIA has proposed devoting $48,100 to community programs next year, a $20,000 increase over the current sum. The association expects to spend $25,000 in a joint sidewalk replacement program with the county and homeowners.

Baltimore City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young plans to unveil a plan Monday that he says will prevent fire companies and recreation centers from closing, double funding for youth summer jobs and after-school programs and lessen the cost of planned cuts to health benefits for employees and retirees. “My 'Plan for a Better Baltimore' builds on the mayor's goal to grow Baltimore by 10,000 families over the next decade by investing in services that save lives and will help to attract and retain residents,” Young said in a statement.

In his column, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.neglects to identify the real causes of the nation's debt ("Debt without end?" May 27). It is due to financing two wars off the budget and by providing welfare - the Bush tax cuts - to the 1-percenters that are the real causes. In his ignorance, he praises Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal which the CBO has analyzed and found financially irresponsible. Additionally, he is ready and willing to throw granny over the cliff because she will not be able to purchase a cost-effective medical insurance policy using a voucher.