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.

The recent op-ed written by William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, is similar to Chicken Little declaring that the sky is falling ("Doomsday for Md. higher education," April 24). Mr. Kirwan states that "under the doomsday budget, the USM would be cut nearly $50 million" and would "dictate a double-digit increase for in-state undergraduate tuition, an increase significantly higher than the 3 percent included in the governor's budget proposal. " However, based on information found on the USM's own website (www.usmd.edu)

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.

Earlier this month, both houses of the Maryland General Assembly passed the state's fiscal 2013 operating budget, but both houses failed to pass tax legislation and a companion bill required to fund and implement the budget. As a result, our state faces two possibilities. Ideally, GovernorMartin O'Malleyand the legislative leadership will work out their differences, reconvene in a special session, and pass the legislation necessary for the FY 2013 budget to go into effect as lawmakers intended on July 1, 2012.

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.

Parents and teachers urged the Howard County school board last night to provide money for salary increases for educators and for most of the classroom initiatives in Superintendent Michael E. Hickey's proposed $251.9 million operating budget."This is the year that funding for a fair pay increase must be the No. 1 priority for the Board of Education," social studies teacher Joe Staub told the board during its annual operating budget hearing.Dozens of parents, residents and educators also presented their own budget wish lists to the board, making requests that ranged from maintaining special education funding to adding technicians to repair computers more quickly.

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."

Howard County residents would see no property tax increase this year, but they could pay a higher fire tax under an $899 million budget proposal unveiled Friday by County Executive Ken Ulman. General fund spending, which represents money raised through local taxes and fees, would increase less than 3 percent. "It is really a maintenance budget," Ulman said of the spending plan that, if approved by the County Council, would take effect July 1. A state budget impasse has left state aid up in the air and the question of who will pay teacher pension costs unresolved, but Ulman said his plan is based on a deal made but not passed before time ran out on this year's General Assembly session.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz proposed Thursday a general fund operating budget of about $1.65 billion that includes no tax increases but reduces the number of county employees through attrition. In introducing his spending plan for the 12 months beginning in July, Kamenetz highlighted proposed spending on education and infrastructure, including air conditioning for a dozen schools. His budget proposal, presented during his State of the County address to members of the County Council in Towson, holds taxes flat in part by taking advantage of the projected $21 million in yearly savings expected through voluntary retirements of county employees, he said.

Your editorial on Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal demonstrates why it will be so difficult to restore fiscal discipline to the federal budget ("Ryan's song and dance," March 21). Unfortunately, you have picked the wrong culprit. While criticizing Representative Ryan in his effort to balance the budget, The Sun glosses over President Obama's utter failure to make any serious effort at reducing government spending. You mention the president's "bipartisan deficit commission" but conveniently leave out the fact that the president has refused to implement any of its recommendations.

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.

Baltimore County is bracing for another tough budget year, delaying new construction and improvements to infrastructure while looking for other ways to save. But County Council members and County Executive Kevin Kamenetz's administration say they don't plan to raise taxes to bring in more revenue. The county has not raised property taxes for 23 years, said Kamenetz's chief of staff, Don Mohler. Its income taxes haven't risen for 19. Kamenetz hopes to continue that run, Mohler said.

Health advocate Vinny DeMarco was thrilled and delighted this week when the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee approved the most important part of his proposal to increase taxes  on tobacco products  other that cigarettes as part its budget package. Now the irrepressible DeMarco wants the rest. The Senate committee agreed to raise the price on small cigars -- a type of tobacco products that has been increasingly appealing to young people as cigarette  taxes have been increased -- from 15 percent to 70 percent.

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.

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.

State aid to public schools and universities could be slashed, 500 state jobs abolished and local law enforcement grants eliminated under a "doomsday" budget prepared for the Maryland Senate to show the impact of a budget balanced without tax increases. The budget cutting would especially be hard on Baltimore, which would lose almost $75 million in state aid — including $34 million for education and $10 million for law enforcement. The $720 million in cuts are part of what Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has called a doomsday budget, prepared for the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee as an alternative to Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to raise about $300 million in additional revenue, largely through an increase in the income taxes paid by Marylanders earning $100,000 or more.

Maryland lawmakers appear to have more than a few quibbles with Gov.Martin O'Malley's proposal to raise taxes to help eliminate a projected $1 billion shortfall next year. So, with six weeks left in the legislative session, they are preparing to rewrite the budget game plan through some combination of spending cuts and new taxes. Uh-oh. Marylanders will recall the last time the General Assembly decided to take the initiative on taxes - specifically, a plan to broaden the sales tax base.