County Budget

Dennis H. Parkinson, a top state budget officer, was named Monday tohead Anne Arundel's budget department.Parkinson's appointment comes less than three weeks after County Executive Robert R. Neall pushed a bill through the County Council increasing the allowable starting salary for top-ranking administrators hired from outside county government.The bill was designed specifically with Parkinson in mind. Neall has been wooing him ever since former county budget officer Marita Brown resigned to take a post in another county.

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.

Three public meetings will take place next week to solicit comments about the county budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.The meetings will be: Tuesday at Old Mill High School, Wednesday at Crofton Elementary, and Thursday at Annapolis High.All three sessions will begin at 7:30 p.m. Written testimony on the budget will be accepted until April 1.County Executive Robert R. Neall's budget is due to be submitted to the County Council May 1.The council will then have its own hearings and must approve a final budget by June 1.

Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman embraced a message of change in proposing her first county budget Wednesday, describing the $1.3 billion operating budget as an effort to reverse a government that had fallen "way behind in culture, attitude and investment. " Neuman, who was appointed executive by the County Council in February to replace John R. Leopold after he was convicted in January of misconduct in office, told the packed council chamber, "We will not be defined by a past of scandal and mediocrity.

Anne Arundel Executive Robert R. Neall won his battle to reduce the county budget yesterday by making a promise he doesn't expect to have to keep.The County Council unanimously approved Mr. Neall's revised fiscal 1992 budget, but only after the executive agreed in writing to restore $6.6 million in wage concessions if the county suffers no further cuts in state aid.That possibility, Mr. Neall said, is akin "to the sun rising in the west. I don't have any doubt as to what the state's going to do."

County government officials may ask the school system for help in cutting expenses to cope with a projected income gap that could reach $18 million, but Superintendent Michael E. Hickey says the public schools don't have much money to spare.Hickey said if a request for cuts in the 1990-1991 operating budget comes from County Executive-elect Charles I. Ecker, school officials will see if they can reduce non-personnel expenses and possibly put off filling non-teaching vacancies."It's not going to be possible to do very much because most of our budget is people, and those people are already hired.

With the holiday season underway, thoughts naturally turn to gifts -- the giving and receiving of them, that is.That spirit has certainly infected Howard County government, as a host of special interest groups and individuals came forward last week to thrust their wish lists before local elected officials. Not surprisingly, every body, it seems, wants something.Education advocates want more money for schools.Animal lovers want more for Animal Control.Environmentalists want more for solid waste management.

the most publicized local effect of the recession -- are, perhaps, the least likely to affect citizens.Only three Detention Center guards, six Health Department and three upper-management employees havelost their jobs -- which means no fewer teachers, cops on the beat, firefighters, librarians or road workers. Certainly those 11,000 county workers who have accepted pay cuts or furloughs will feel something. But if county budget officials are taken at their word, the average person on the street should notice little, if any, difference.

About 100 Anne Arundel County citizens gathered last night in Crownsville and asked County Executive Robert R. Neall to spare their favorite programs from the budget ax.At the first of four hearings Mr. Neall is conducting on the budget, he heard pleas to save several county programs, including a before- and after-school child care program. He also heard from people asking for money for new programs, such as an expansion of the crowded South Shore Elementary School and new athletic fields in Crofton.

Want to tell the top elected official in Howard County how to spend your tax money?Come to County Executive Charles I. Ecker's annual fall budget meeting at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in the George Howard Building, which is in the county government complex in Ellicott City. Mr. Ecker is preparing the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.But his assistant stressed Friday that there is no money for new programs."The cupboard is bare," said Beverly Wilhide.This year she hopes to receive suggestions on how to cut government spending.

Redevelopment plans for Carrolltown Center will be unveiled at the next Town Hall meeting, hosted by Carroll County Commissioner Doug Howard. Dixon Harvey, of Black Oak Associates, will discuss plans and a timetable for the project at the meeting on Monday, April 22. "At long last, our community will see plans for the redevelopment of Carrolltowne Mall," Howard said in a press release. "This is an important milestone in our community and should be an exciting meeting. " The troubled shopping center at Liberty and Ridge roads has seen K-Mart and Sears anchor stores shuttered.

Harford County Executive David Craig will hold a public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2014 county budget on Feb. 11 in the auditorium of Aberdeen High School, 251 Paradise Road in Aberdeen, beginning at 6 p.m. Anyone wishing to address the county executive and members of his administration regarding the budget should arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the hearing to register to speak. This hearing was rescheduled from one that had been planned on Jan. 28 that had to be canceled because of inclement weather.

I read the Jan. 31 edition of the Flier and found some eye-opening information. Michael McCall's Inner Arbor Plan is called new: however, it is almost identical to the General Growth Properties Plan for the Columbia Association's Symphony Woods open space/parkland property that was approved by the County Council in 2010 legislation. The orientation and entry point to Symphony Woods seem to be the only major changes. Is it surprising then that the three Council members representing Columbia indicated they love this "new" plan?

The average citizen could be forgiven for failing to understand the way taxpayer money gets spent at the state and county level. It's as complex as a spider web, and about as easy to get tangled in. As of this week, Harford County Executive David R. Craig was getting ready to put together a spending plan for the year that begins July 1 (not Jan. 1, as the year does for most of us). His initial citizens input meeting was supposed to have been Monday, but that was delayed because of the weather.

Local legislators offered hope tempered with an acknowledgment of the economy's continuing lethargy as they spoke during the annual legislative luncheon hosted by the Greater Catonsville Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Nov. 14. "Our economy is going to continue to be very flat," said County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, speaking before Catonsville's business leaders for the first time since his December 2010 election. With tax revenues seemingly destined to continue to decline, Kamenetz said the county will continue to emphasize maintaining what it already has and encourage private enterprise.

The shouting's over. Harford County has either won or lost, and the credit can now be taken even as the blame is being assessed. There is, after all, plenty of both to go around. The issue at hand is the securing by Harford County of the U.S. headquarters of the British firm Smith's Detection, which makes X-ray and scanning equipment, mostly for government agencies. The company promises to bring 225 new jobs to the area, and there are folks who want to claim credit for that. As part of the effort to lure the firm to Harford County, it was granted a $100,000 county training grant, over the objections of members of Harford County's vocal and conservative Campaign for Liberty organization.

A dozen members of Lutherville's Boy Scout Troop No. 711 attended the annual Baltimore County Council budget hearing last night to learn about citizenship, and they did:Their contingent made up one-third of the audience in the Loch Raven High School auditorium.And with only 11 speakers signed up to comment on county spending by the scheduled 7 p.m. starting time, the annual meeting that a few years ago attracted overflow crowds of 1,200 or more impassioned people was over by 7: 35 p.m. -- the quickest anyone could remember.

When the Carroll County General Hospital board of directors agreed last week to pay the county an overdue bill for a $7 million loan, it did more than ease concern over the hospital's financial health.The decision prevented a widening of the county's $3 million budget hole and buoyed confidence in the hospital's ability to handle paymentson the more than $9.4 million in loans it took out from the county this fall."We view ourselves as very financially solid," Kevin Kelby, the hospital's vice president for finance, said Friday after the board announced it would remit the $563,300 payment it has owed the county since January.

This is the season when local governments finalize their budgets for the next fiscal year, and the grousing about their penurious circumstances is in full swing. Some are even complaining that the state's revised budget and tax plan - signed into law by Gov.Martin O'Malleythis week - has put a serious crimp in their finances. In particular, they blame the state's decision to shift a portion of the cost of teacher retirement contributions to Baltimore City and the counties as ruinous to their own budgets.

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.