Spending Plan

Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. is expected to present a budget Monday that calls for pay raises for all county employees and maintains government services without raising taxes. The proposed spending plan for the fiscal year that begins in July is also expected to include contentious changes to employees' retirement benefits that are designed to cut costs. While not discussing specifics, Smith said yesterday that he hoped to present to the County Council "a well-balanced budget, meeting the community's needs and maintaining fiscal responsibility."

Gov. Parris N. Glendening unveiled a $740 million capital spending plan yesterday that includes money for replacing Cole Field House in College Park, a new District Court building in South Baltimore and expansion of a prison in Allegany County."

City Council members voted Monday to approve the $1.3 billion budget proposed by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, but a key committee postponed a decisive vote until Wednesday. The spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1 would increase the operating budget by 1 percent while cutting $65 million in expenses to close a shortfall. The council has the authority to cut the proposal, but may not increase spending. While the plan was approved by the full 15-member council meeting as the committee of the whole, it did not receive the necessary support from the five-member budget and appropriations committee, according to a spokesman for Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young.

Trying to build support for one of his key initiatives, Gov. Parris N. Glendening sent legislators a $153 million spending package yesterday that is contingent on the General Assembly passing his proposed increase in the tobacco tax.The spending plan includes $3.8 million to help deal with systemic failures in Baltimore's court system, $1.8 million to finish planning for the renovation of the Hippodrome Theater and other projects dear to the hearts of...

The Carroll County school board unanimously approved last night a nearly $330 million operating budget for the 2009 fiscal year. The board approved the budget after a second public hearing at Westminster High School, adding several positions for testing coordinators at each high school and eliminating some school-based accountant positions to allow for additional teachers to reduce high school class sizes. With those changes, the spending plan contains about $21 million more than the current operating budget and takes into account an estimated $5 million shortfall expected as a result of the special legislative session that reduced state education funding.

Columbia's property lien rates will remain the same for another year, but hefty increases will come in the rates non-Columbians pay to join the city's recreational facilities under a new, $30 million spending plan the Columbia Council passed last night.In putting its stamp of approval on the 1993-1994 spending plan for the unincorporated city, the council also approved spending $5.2 million to build Fairway Hills, a new 18-golf golf course.The project is planned for 204 acres in the villages of Dorsey's Search, Town Center, and Wilde Lake, and was among $10 million in capital spending the council approved in the new budget, which takes effect May 1.In approving the golf course project, the council added a carefully crafted condition that bars construction money from being spent on the golf course until the council has fully reviewed a proposal from a developer to become partners in building a different course.

THE PROPOSED Baltimore County public schools budget seriously understates the need for more money to repair and maintain decaying buildings, which is surprising considering that Superintendent Anthony G. Marchione seems to have other priorities in order.The $630 million spending plan, which the school board must finalize by Feb. 25, is 5.3 percent larger than this year's budget, with the request for new money separated into wants and needs.Pay raises and 165 new hires, including 135 teachers, account for most of the "needed" money, which is fine.

With austerity as the guiding principal, county social services administrators presented to the county commissioners Thursday their proposed spending plan for the coming fiscal year.The county Department of Social Services is asking for $125,910 for fiscal year 1993, which begins July 1.The request is 2 percent less than the amount originally allocated for the current budget year, said M. Alexander Jones, director of the Social Services Department.The original 1992 allocation to thedepartment was $135,000, but that figure was trimmed to $128,000 in the wake of state cuts in aid to counties.

For the first time in three years, Crofton property owners voted last night to increase spending in their special community benefits district, approving a $32,536 increase in the annual budget.By a vote of 142-29, the residents approved a $600,849 spending plan for the coming fiscal year that keeps the tax rate at 26 cents per $100 of assessed value and includes a 2.5 percent cost of living raise for Crofton's 14 employees.The raise was proposed last night and approved."This is the largest community meeting that Crofton has ever had," said Edwin F. Dosek, president of the Crofton Civic Association board of directors.

THE LITERACY RATE in Howard County public schools is not nearly as high as it should be. Only 68 percent of second-graders were able to read and understand grade-level material at the end of the 1994-95 school year. So a proposal to spend $75,000 on a new program to improve the reading skills of elementary-school students is a welcome part of Superintendent Michael E. Hickey's $252 million budget request for the next fiscal year.This small portion of Dr. Hickey's budget is in the spirit of President Clinton's campaign initiative to spend $2.75 billion to help every child learn to read by the third grade.