Spending Plan

WEATHER Today's forecast calls for increasing clouds and a high temperature around 43 degrees. It is expected to be cloudy, with scattered flurries before midnight. Tonight's low temperature will be around 31 degrees. TRAFFIC Check our updates for this morning's issues as you plan your commute. FROM LAST NIGHT... Arundel officials probe allegations related to Chesapeake High wrestling trip : More than 50 people attended Wednesday's Anne Arundel County school board meeting in apparent solidarity to request the reinstatement of Chesapeake High School Athletic Director Chip Snyder and wrestling coach Paul Tolle.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposed budget was assailed on many fronts Wednesday as county executives, education advocates, Maryland hospitals and Republican leaders began making their case against the $36 billion spending plan. Some said cuts in payments to Medicaid providers would lead to higher medical bills for everyone else. Others argued that shifting $240 million in teacher pension costs to the counties would inevitably require cuts to community services - and schools. Even some leading Democrats in the General Assembly said the governor's proposal to increase income taxes on the top 20 percent of Maryland wage earners would hit people who don't earn enough to afford it. Republicans were more blunt.

Gov. Martin O'Malley on Wednesday defended his proposal to ask 20 percent of Marylanders to pay more income taxes, calling his budget plan "a balanced approach" that preserves funding for priorities such as education. At a budget briefing, the governor also explained why, after years of pressure, he decided to propose shifting more than $200 million in teacher pension costs from the state to the counties. On his proposed changes to the income tax — the rate would stay the same but deductions and exemptions would be phased out for those making over six figures — O'Malley said: "I don't like doing this.

When Baltimore voters go to polls Tuesday, they will decide on two charter amendments designed to address a pressing problem in the city and a lingering one. The first is an effort to tackle the estimated $2.8 billion in unmet needs for school construction and renovation, and the other is an attempt to increase political engagement in a city where few bothered to vote in the primary election and, sadly, even fewer are likely to cast ballots in Tuesday's...

"Run it like a business" is the mantra every now and again when people are running for election. Never mind that not every business is successful and never mind that not every business turns a profit or manages to stay on top of the latest industry trends, just run it like a business. Of course what is meant when the run-it-like-a-business critique is applied to government is simple: run it efficiently and don't be wasteful or outlandish. Curiously, a lot of businesses would do well to abide by this general rule.

Tick, tick, tick. The big political news of last week, the brief skirmish between House Speaker John A. Boehner and President Barack Obama over whether the president would address Congress on Wednesday or Thursday, was the classic sort of playground standoff that just annoys the heck out of most Americans. How perfect that a speech on job creation (something that should matter to all involved) gets shelved so that it won't interfere with a Republican presidential candidates' debate or housekeeping votes on the House floor.

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.

The Annapolis city council approved Monday a $90 million operating budget for the next fiscal year, a spending plan that raises the city's property tax rate and increases a variety of fees for city services. The council approved Mayor Joshua J. Cohen's proposed budget by a 7-2 vote, city officials said. The city's $9.1 million capital budget was approved unanimously. The budget for fiscal year 2012 is the result of an agreement reached last month by a majority of the council.

The city's plan to spend $2 million in slots revenue earmarked for Northwest Baltimore neighborhoods calls for a new seven-acre park, which would require the relocation of residents who live in blighted areas around Pimlico Race Course . At a public meeting Wednesday night, city and community leaders outlined ways to spend the first installment of state slots revenue set aside for the neighborhood around Pimlico. Under state law, the area gets a share of slots revenue, even though there is no casino planned there and the sole city slots site in South Baltimore has not been developed.

Annapolis Mayor Joshua J. Cohen plans to raise $2 million through a property tax increase, paired with a $2.8 million package of spending cuts — including a hiring freeze and cuts to nearly all city departments — to balance his proposed $86.2 million budget for next fiscal year. The plans announced Wednesday were the result of an agreement between Cohen and a majority of the city council, many of whose members criticized his budget proposal when it was introduced in March. Initially, the plan included a 7.6 percent spending increase over the previous year and would not have changed the property tax rate.