County Government

The man who oversees the day-to-day operation of the Baltimore County government said yesterday that he will resign by the end of the year. County Administrative Officer Anthony G. Marchione, 74, said he made it clear when he took the job in 2003 that he planned to retire after County Executive James T. Smith Jr.'s first term. He said he wants to travel and spend more time at his house on North Carolina's Outer Banks. "I know what it feels like to not have a full-time job, and I'm looking forward to doing those things," said Marchione, a former teacher and school administrator.

Howard County government appears headed toward having a stronger, higher-profile environmental presence, but a group of volunteers is struggling with the question of what form such an agency should take. Pushing ideas to improve the environment is one thing, but having the power to make them happen is another, which is why members of the Commission on the Environment and Sustainability were examining the options this week at a meeting in the George Howard Building in Ellicott City. Should county government have a new, full-fledged Department of the Environment?

Even as county leaders brace for dwindling county and state revenues, the Anne Arundel County Board of Education is asking for $189 million for school construction and renovations, nearly $60 million more than the County Council funded last year. The school system's request sets the stage for another fiscal face-off with the county government and is virtually certain to result in substantial cuts, considering that next year's financial forecast is gloomier than the one the county wrangled with last spring, two council members told the board at a meeting this week.

THE COLUMBIA ASSOCIATION'S proposed budget for fiscal year 1997 comes as an anomaly in otherwise difficult financial times for public institutions.With an emphasis on youth programs and traditional recreation activities, the association's budget continues its trend toward deficit reduction without increasing its assessment against residents. New programs -- including three new summer camps, three new youth programs and expanded Kidsport and midnight basketball programs -- are being fueled mainly by an increase in income from memberships and fees.

Howard County's government would save money by all but closing for a week in December under a proposed $1.4 billion budget that includes the biggest spending cuts in nearly two decades. All but essential county services would be shut down the week between Christmas and New Year's, so employees could be furloughed for four or five days under the plan proposed Monday by County Executive Ken Ulman. Nine employees would lose their jobs under the proposal. The property tax rate ($1.014 per $100 of assessed value)

FOR AT LEAST a decade, all levels of government have been admonished to act more like businesses. Some of the very people who would tout this trend, however, don't seem to realize its meaning.When Anne Arundel County government last year retained Waterman & Associates, a Washington consulting firm, to secure federal grants, it took a risk.Ultimately, the investment didn't generate the expected return -- a phenomenon not uncommon in the private sector.Few in government circles disagreed that the county's previous approach to securing federal grants had been "hit or miss."

It was a typical gathering in the halls of Baltimore County government. Elected officials, aides and administrators huddled around a table, discussing the fine points of hiring architects and engineers.Sixteen people, with one striking similarity.All white men.Baltimore County is rapidly diversifying, but the government continues to wheel forth as a bastion of white male decision-makers. Two recent hirings have brought the issue into sharp focus: The county executive, shunning a broad search, tapped white men to head the police and fire departments.

The last Howard County employees left the George Howard Building for temporary office quarters in Columbia in November, but a few citizens still show up at the former government headquarters to try to pay their taxes. "People think the county building is still here. They come and want to pay their taxes," ignoring the construction machines, the mud and the blue partitions intended to keep them out, said Clark Interiors' superintendent Jim Summers of the $23.5 million renovation of the government complex on Court House Drive in Ellicott City.

Burdened with two BlackBerry-type devices and a telephone earpiece and lugging a laptop computer in a shoulder bag, Ira Levy can look like a man weighed down by technology. But Howard County's new technology czar seems comfortably confident. Just two weeks into the job, the 34-year-old Levy has a clear idea of both his short- and long-term tasks, and he's making progress. By midmonth, he's expecting to eliminate a vexing dual e-mail system that has frustrated County Council members. In addition, new electronic filters are screening out junk e-mail that was taking some county workers up to a half-hour a day to wade through.

Anne Arundel County officials said a renegotiated contract will save taxpayers $17.6 million in prescription drug costs over the next three years. A new $215 million deal with CVS Caremark provides cheaper prescriptions to county government and school system employees, their families and retirees, officials announced Thursday. County Executive John R. Leopold and Anne Arundel County Schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell issued a joint announcement crediting the combined negotiating power of the organizations and the 22,500 people covered by the contract.