County Officials

County Executive Ken Ulman stood this week for a news conference, threatening to reduce library hours, cut police positions and cancel local Fourth of July fireworks if the state decides to shift the cost of teacher pensions to local governments. Ulman's warnings, repeated by about a dozen county agency heads outside the Harper's Choice Village Center on Thursday, came amid a series of similar events held by local officials throughout the state. All warned that the cost-sharing plan proposed by Gov. Martin O'Malley would lead to painful decisions far beyond their school systems.

When William G. Carter, Jr. wanted to construct an indoor riding ring on his Edgewater horse farm, county officials piled on the requirements. For his proposed building, which would allow the dozen or so horses boarded at his 141-acre Dove Hill Farm to exercise indoors in inclement weather, Anne Arundel County building inspectors told Carter he would have to include emergency exits, bathrooms and a ramp for the disabled. The add-ons, for a building not used by the general public, would have cost more than $100,000 — a cost that pushed Carter to drop his plan.

Saying they are stretched too thin and face problems with a new dispatch and reporting system, Anne Arundel County police supervisor unions are blaming the administration for a situation they say is taking a toll on them and public safety. Two supervisors unions released a list of problems Friday that they say are putting the department on "the verge of crisis. " The sergeants and lieutenants groups previously voted no confidence in County Executive John R. Leopold and police Chief James Teare Sr. The unions contend the department's leadership — "especially" Leopold — has led to "a deterioration of public safety," and say that police fear a rise in crime, according to a prepared statement Friday.

The Frederick County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday night to adopt an ordinance making English the county's official language, the Frederick News-Post has reported. According to the newspaper, the board voted 4-1 to approve the law, which replaces a previous nonbinding resolution. The measure appears more symbolic than substantive, and does not override federal or state laws requiring the use of other languages in certain circumstances. Nor does it prevent county officials from using other languages in emergencies or to communicate with criminal suspects.

County leaders and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie-Rawlings-Blake came together Wednesday in Annapolis to fight the governor's proposal to shift part of the cost of teacher pensions to local governments, saying they would have to cut deeply into essential services to pay for such a change. "This puts a potentially devastating squeeze on local government," said Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, a Democrat. "Find the $239 million somewhere else in the budget. " The local officials pointed to libraries, public safety and education as services that could be hurt if the General Assembly transfers millions of dollars in costs to them.

Anne Arundel County officials have scuttled a plan to sell a downtown Annapolis park for possible development, hoping that the city will be willing to take over management of the county-owned land. Alan R. Friedman, county director of government relations, asked the council at its Monday meeting to withdraw a plan submitted in December by County Executive John R. Leopold. Annapolis Mayor Joshua J. Cohen said he is reviewing a draft agreement that calls for the city to lease the land at no cost for the next three years, though he said he's open to potentially developing the land.

An Anne Arundel County waterfront landowner and a contractor accused of doing work without a permit have been hit with financial penalties and probation in the first two cases brought under the county's aggressive new environmental enforcement strategy. County officials and prosecutors say they will continue to go beyond traditional enforcement measures, using civil and criminal penalties to protect the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries from serious violations. "The stakes have gone up dramatically," said Joseph F. Devlin, one of the attorneys for Emanuel Krousaniotakis, the owner of waterfront property outside Annapolis.

Prince George's County residents can register to receive alerts and notifications during local emergencies through a new system offered by the county's office of emergency management. Residents register to receive news from the notification system, NotifyMe Prince George's, online at https://notifyme.princegeorgescountymd.govhttps://notifyme.princegeorgescountymd.gov . Alerts can be received by email, text messaging or paging, and include real-time information and instructions for a variety of emergency-related situations, including messages about Amber Alerts, severe weather, school and government delays and closings, traffic, utility interruptions and emergency preparedness measures.

The Board of County Commissioners are citing a bank mistake for errors in the deposit of customers' payments of water and property tax bills - which county officials said affected some 230 accounts. In a press release dated, Jan. 17, the county said that on Jan. 5, officials deposited checks and cash payments made to the county by property owners for water bills and property tax bills to the county bank, BB&T. On Jan, 6, the bank submitted the checks to the various institutions for payment.

While Maryland has been ratcheting up aid to local school systems, state education officials say that seven counties aren't paying their share and are failing to fund schools this year at the minimum level required under state law. Education advocates and state leaders say that school funding cuts by nearly one-third of the state's 24 local jurisdictions will undermine progress at public schools that have been repeatedly ranked as the nation's best....