State Budget Cuts

In sub-freezing cold, Doris, a 45-year-old heroin addict, waits in line for hours outside a drug-counseling center in Baltimore.No luck. Not enough openings. She's told to go home and come back in a week. Doris weeps in frustration. "I've hit bottom and I'm tired. Tired of the streets. Tired of myself. And I can't get help," she says.Like stabs from a blunt needle, state budget cuts caused by the recession have left serious wounds in Maryland's drug treatment efforts.Since 1991, the substance-abuse budget, including federal funds, has decreased from $55.5 million to $50.8 million, closing some clinics and paring many others to the bone.

What a difference a year makes.Last May, the Baltimore County Council's annual budget hearing drew a crowd of more than 1,300 people who packed Loch Raven High School's large auditorium and spilled into the lobby. A boisterous, sign-waving crowd of angry teachers and parents came to counter an equally enthusiastic though smaller group of tax protesters.Last night, for the 1993 edition of the budget hearing, about 100 people attended. Thirty-nine of them signed up to speak, compared with more than 100 last year.

The bean counters have counted, and Baltimore Count officials have a pleasant surprise -- a $4.9 million budget surplus for the fiscal year that ended June 30.But Hayden administration officials say the money won't come close to covering the $20 million to $30 million the county expects to lose this year when the state cuts aid to local governments in an effort to deal with its own budget deficit.County Executive Roger B. Hayden said that without the cash to cover state cuts, he is preparing to reduce the size of county government still further and will look at all county programs and services.

The school system will have to do some hard negotiating for more county money to offset losses in state aid, Harford's superintendent says."Be prepared for cuts. There will be a tremendous financial challenge to hold on to what we have," said Superintendent Ray R. Keech, speaking Monday night at the school board's first educational forum this school year.The county school system, which accounts for about half of the county budget, expects to lose at least $2.3 million in state aid this year.

County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann warns that Harford's healthy $13.7 million budget surplus is not the generous financial cushion it appears to be.The money will help the county weather the expected loss of $7.6 million in state aid and protect county employees' jobs, Ms. Rehrmann said.But she said the county can't afford to fully offset such a loss because it must keep much of the surplus to preserve its high bond rating and prepare for a continuing recession and the possibility of more state budget cuts.

During a typical year, the school system's budget process leaves many parents frustrated, convinced their children's needs are not being met, usually for want of more money.But the past year, with its rounds of state budget cuts, has been anything but typical -- and especially frustrating. This year promises more of the same.Wednesday night, the County Council of PTAs sponsored a forum at Annapolis High School, to explain the mechanics of the budget process and suggest how parents can get involved.

These days, Paul Smith's 86-year-old mother cries all the time.For years, the former Glen Burnie resident has gotten by, despite severe arthritis and a heart condition. But she's inconsolable, Mr. Smith says, knowing she could be forced by state budget cuts from the Catonsville nursing home that has been her home for 18 years.Faced with what they say is an unfeeling state bureaucracy that could force hundreds of elderly Marylanders out of nursing centers they call home, the Smiths have decided to fight back.

With three new members, the Board of Education will kick off its new year tomorrow the same way it ended the last one -- discussing budget cuts.The board, with new members Michael Pace, Joseph Foster and student member Jay Witcher, will decide on how the school system will deal with recently announced state budget cuts to non-mandated school programs.State officials announced July 15 that the county would be losing $305,122 for such non-mandated programs as the highly touted Maryland's Tomorrow, for students at risk of dropping out of school.

The two teachers from Anne Arundel County joined 20,000 other State House protesters calling for an end to state budget cuts. But they disagreed on how to do it."I'd pay 1 percent more sales tax," one said last night."No taxes," her co-worker argued. "Once you get taxes, they're never taken away."The two views represent the dilemma facing lawmakers who returned to Annapolis for the 404th session of the Maryland General Assembly yesterday.Pressed by some constituents who want more services and taxes, and others who want neither, they'll be looking for guidancefrom Gov. William Donald Schaefer, who was to deliver his State of the State message to a joint session today.

County officials learned yesterday Anne Arundel could lose $2.7 million in the latest round of state budget cuts, a reduction that should have a minimal effect on government operations."

Advocates for people with severe disabilities have launched a campaign to reverse $29 million in recent state budget cuts that they contend are hurting an already underfunded, vulnerable community. Supporters are organizing a series of nine public meetings around Maryland and are taking their case to top officials. Gov. Martin O'Malley, who met with advocates for the developmentally disabled this week, has repeatedly pared spending for state agencies and services to keep the budget balanced, and he must close another $2 billion shortfall next year.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the $454 million in state budget cuts expected to be approved today by the Board of Public Works is the strong possibility that a similar situation will arise again in a matter of months as tax revenue estimates continue to drop. While the impact of the economic recession on Maryland's state government may not be quite as overwhelming as it's been in Sacramento and Albany, the worst may not yet have hit Annapolis. Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday that the budget reductions are designed to preserve his administration's priorities as best as possible until a recovery takes hold.

Maybe it's because we're already accustomed to talking about hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars as casually as if it were pocket change. A $250 billion outlay to prop up the country's biggest banks? Big deal, when we're already committed to spend a total of $700 billion to bail out the markets. So when the state Board of Public Works cut nearly $300 million in spending yesterday, for a moment it seemed as if they were talking about coins in between the sofa cushions. As in: Wake us up when you start talking real money.

While Gov. Martin O'Malley has shown leadership in addressing issues of importance to the developmental disabilities community, he is now considering state budget cuts for the fiscal year totaling some $250 million ("State weighs cuts in critical needs," Oct. 9). Among those is eliminating a 1.2 percent rise in the state's reimbursement rate for community-based developmental disabilities programs. While everyone undoubtedly will bear some of the burden of the budget cuts, the developmental disabilities community is particularly vulnerable because of years of underfunding.

"The consequences of state budget cuts and differing political priorities could have potentially dangerous consequences in Howard County, health officer Penny Borenstein told local state legislators last week. The Ehrlich administration decision to not extend Medicaid coverage to newly pregnant, legal immigrants after July 1 is likely to swamp the Howard County Health Department's clinic, Borenstein told the group. The administration in July cut the coverage for already pregnant immigrant women to save $1.5 million, but the governor reversed that action July 21 after the state surplus swelled to $1 billion.

Two child-care workers whose jobs are ending because of state budget cuts are to be Howard County's first layoffs in at least a decade - though they may not be the last, county officials told the County Council at a budget review meeting yesterday. Caren Logan-Absalom and Tracy Lane were told Friday that their jobs in the Office of Children's Resources will disappear with the grant money to pay for them in the middle of next month, said Manus O'Donnell, director of the Department of Citizen Services.

What a difference a year makes.Last May, the Baltimore County Council's annual budget hearing drew a crowd of more than 1,300 people who packed Loch Raven High School's large auditorium and spilled into the lobby. A boisterous, sign-waving crowd of angry teachers and parents came to counter an equally enthusiastic though smaller group of tax protesters.Last night, for the 1993 edition of the budget hearing, about 100 people attended. Thirty-nine of them signed up to speak, compared with more than 100 last year.

In sub-freezing cold, Doris, a 45-year-old heroin addict, waits in line for hours outside a drug-counseling center in Baltimore.No luck. Not enough openings. She's told to go home and come back in a week. Doris weeps in frustration. "I've hit bottom and I'm tired. Tired of the streets. Tired of myself. And I can't get help," she says.Like stabs from a blunt needle, state budget cuts caused by the recession have left serious wounds in Maryland's drug treatment efforts.Since 1991, the substance-abuse budget, including federal funds, has decreased from $55.5 million to $50.8 million, closing some clinics and paring many others to the bone.

Baltimore County has $9.1 million in a Rainy Day Fund, but its budget director says the money can't be used as an umbrella to help shield Towson from this year's downpour of state budget cuts.As Fred Homan, the county's chief financial officer, explains it, the administration of County Executive Roger B. Hayden is in sort of a "Catch-22" situation as it tries to deal with $27.5 million worth of reductions in state aid.Normally, the Rainy Day Fund and a $5 million surplus from last year might be used to help offset the deficit the state created when it cut local aid in two special legislative sessions this year.

These days, Paul Smith's 86-year-old mother cries all the time.For years, the former Glen Burnie resident has gotten by, despite severe arthritis and a heart condition. But she's inconsolable, Mr. Smith says, knowing she could be forced by state budget cuts from the Catonsville nursing home that has been her home for 18 years.Faced with what they say is an unfeeling state bureaucracy that could force hundreds of elderly Marylanders out of nursing centers they call home, the Smiths have decided to fight back.