Budget Request

Harford school administrators are holding out for full financing of their original $151.8 million budget request, which called for $88.6 million in county money.Harford public school administrators madethat position known Tuesday while the County Council reviewed in a budget work session County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann's proposed $72.6 million county allocation to education. That's considerably less than the school board's original request of $88.6 million.The rest of the school board's budget is made up of federal, state and county dollars.

From The Aegis dated Feb. 19, 1987: The Harford County public school system 25 years ago was asking for a $10.1 million (11.8 percent) increase in funding from the year before, including a 6 percent across-the-board pay raise for its 3,000 employees. The budget would also add 125 new positions to the school system, including 79 new teachers. The budget request for fiscal 1988 far surpassed other budgets, including an additional $2.7 million provided by the previous county executive and the $4 million from a year earlier.

What did Carroll Community College officials say to the county commissioners after the Office of Management and Budget cut their budget request by $74,348?"

The Anne Arundel County Board of Education voted Wednesday to approve Superintendent Kevin Maxwell's operating budget that would add more than 60 teaching positions and fully fund negotiated agreements with employee unions. The board adopted the superintendent's operating budget by a 7-1 vote, with member Amalie Brandenburg opposing. Board member Solon Webb was not present. Maxwell has recommended an operating budget of $986.2 million that requests the authority to fill the teaching positions, which will all be deployed into the classroom, school officials said.

The Baltimore County Planning Board has turned down a capital budget request by the school board that was three times more costly than the spending authorized by voters in November.Terming the request unreasonable, the Planning Board recommended Thursday night that the education capital budget for fiscal 1996 and 1997 be kept at $48.2 million -- the amount approved by the voters.The Board of Education had requested approval for projects totaling $139.8 million for the two-year capital budget cycle.

Seeming to ignore talk of austerity by Harford County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann, county schools Superintendent Ray R. Keech is seeking a 20 percent increase in operating funds for the coming budget year.Keech presented his $153 million budget request to the school board last night. About 65 percent of the requested increase, or nearly $17 million, would go toward honoring negotiated raises with teachers and other employees and the hiring of 242 new staffers, including 158 teachers.The remaining $9 million in new money would go toward more buses; benefits, energy and other fixed costs; and computers and other supplies.

The Carroll County Board of Education approved a $317 million operating budget last night after a final hearing on the spending plan. Revised to account for negotiations with collective bargaining units that represent teachers, administrators and others, the budget request for the 2008 fiscal year includes a 7 percent salary increase for contract employees. With those increases and some other additions, the proposed budget is about $30 million more than the approved funding of $287 million for this school year.

Lawmakers have rejected as just "public relations" a late supplemental budget request from Gov. William Donald Schaefer to pump millions of dollars from new taxes and transportation projects into programs that aid the environment, the poor and schools."

The Howard County school board considered cutting everything from athletic transportation funds to new workers proposed for a minority tutoring program as it struggled last night to trim its budget request for next year.Just 24 hours after being told by the County Council not to expect any relief from the county executive's recommended $4.4 million cut, the board was forced to decide how it should spread the budget reduction across broad categories, including administration, instruction, transportation and special education.

In an unexpected move yesterday, the Anne Arundel County school board cut more than $7 million from Superintendent Eric J. Smith's proposed budget for next fiscal year, eliminating money for several of his academic initiatives while making a priority of teacher pay raises and benefits. Board members said their $664.5 million operating budget request is in line with the county's revenue projections for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The request would increase this year's budget by $31.4 million, or 5 percent.

Turnout was lighter than in past years as County Executive Ken Ulman kicked off a budget-making process for next year that has officials cautiously optimistic that they can avoid painful cuts. Several people spoke before Ulman — who was flanked by budget director Raymond S. Wacks and chief administrative officer Lonnie Robbins — airing requests Wednesday for the next fiscal year at the George Howard Building in Ellicott City. County residents and officials spoke on behalf of groups that included the libraries and Howard Community College.

Social Security Administration employees rallied outside the agency's Woodlawn headquarters and offices across the country Wednesday in a union-organized protest against proposed budget cuts. Workers shouted "furlough Congress" after hearing an American Federation of Government Employees leader say cuts in a House-approved budget would be the equivalent of workers taking off an entire month without pay. Congress is five months into the current fiscal year but has yet to pass a budget.

Anne Arundel County schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell and County Executive John R. Leopold said they will be working closely in the coming months to bridge their budgetary priorities, after the school board last week approved Maxwell's recommended $977.4 million operating budget and $213.8 million capital budget. The budgets will be forwarded to Leopold, who has said it will be "nearly impossible" to fund them in full, citing a sharp decline in revenue and the worsening global financial crisis.

Though government revenues are sliding, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman was urged to spend money for everything from education to skateboard parks in his next budget by members of a standing-room-only crowd at his annual hearing. "The fact is, we are in the worst economic crisis that most of us have lived through. We're going to have some tough times," Ulman told the crowd Thursday night. County revenues could drop, depending on state aid and income tax returns, and Ulman said he has asked department heads to prepare two budgets for next fiscal year - one flat and one with a 5 percent reduction.

As lawmakers worked yesterday to trim state spending to balance Maryland's budget for next year, Gov. Martin O'Malley proposed $18.2 million in new expenditures, much of it earmarked for health care, programs for children with disabilities and a fund to help the poor pay their electricity bills. O'Malley called for additional general fund spending totaling $28.7 million over the next two years but also proposed significant expenditures relying on special earmarked funds, some of which are nearing approval by the General Assembly.

In anticipation of less money being available from the state, Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. presented a leaner wish list to state lawmakers yesterday, including about half the amount he asked for last year to fund local projects such as new parks. This year, Smith is seeking about $5 million in bond bills for such projects as the Heritage Trail in eastern Baltimore County and a new agricultural center. Last year, the county requested double that amount -- $10 million -- for such projects and received about $5 million.

Even with the conservative budget proposal he released five weeks ago, interim Schools Superintendent Charles I. Ecker came up nearly $1.8 million short. The revised 2003 operating budget recommendation he is expected to present tonight to the school board would dig the Carroll County system further in the hole - by $6.7 million. "I think it's reasonable in comparison with other counties," Ecker said of his $211 million budget request, which must win approval of the school board and county commissioners before being funded by county tax dollars.

The Anne Arundel County school board got an earful of angry comments yesterday from parents for cutting next year's schools budget request by more than $7 million in an effort to cooperate with cash-strapped county officials. Parents said they were shocked that the school board abandoned long-awaited services and materials to forward a reduced $664.5 million operating budget request to County Executive Janet S. Owens. Lynne Tucker, an advocate of gifted instruction and mother of a Davidsonville Elementary pupil, told the board that its decision represented "a total disregard for student educational need."

Washington -- Republican senators told President Bush yesterday that his administration's lack of credibility in the fight against illegal immigration was a major hindrance to passing overhaul legislation, and they urged him to ask for emergency funds to ramp up enforcement. The criticism came as Bush made his first appearance in nearly six years at the GOP senators' weekly strategy luncheon in the Capitol. Senators said the president was receptive to the idea of a supplemental budget request - the same mechanism used to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Harford County school board abruptly canceled last night's budget work session, with officials saying they learned yesterday that County Executive David R. Craig will order "massive reductions" to the school budget. The amount was "nothing near what we requested," said board President Mark M. Wolkow, who, with other school officials, was briefed on the budget yesterday. "It means we really have to cut back." Officials would not disclose figures from Craig's proposed budget, which will be unveiled today.