Subsidy

The developers of Harbor East want the city of Baltimore to prepare their half-billon dollar property by installing $2.9 million worth of infrastructure and a promenade. H&S Properties and Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse also seek a 15-year deferral on the taxes for an office building proposed for this property and to pay no taxes on a planned parking garage for 25 years. Those favoring this arrangement argue that such support will keep and expand business in the city and that this development will eventually pay off in jobs and taxes.

American paper manufacturers, such as NewPage Corp. in Allegany Co., cleared an important hurdle toward getting anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties slapped on cheap Chinese imports of coated sheet paper. The Commerce Department on Thursday affirmed its decision made on March 30 to impose duties on glossy paper products from China, Indonesia and South Korea. It is the first time in 23 years the the department has agreed to apply its anti-subsidy trade law to communist or "non-market economies" such as China.

The idea of politicians tinkering with billions of dollars in the student loan program can make anyone a bit wary. But this time they got it right, with students coming out the winner in legislation passed recently by Congress and to be signed by the president. The law will cut nearly $21 billion in government subsidies to lenders over the next five years. Almost all the money will be plowed back into grants for the poorest students, lower interest rates and loan forgiveness for those in careers that society values but nevertheless underpays.

Nearing the end of its annual 90-day session, the General Assembly gave final approval last night to $10 million in subsidies for the racing industry and a plan to allow a third thoroughbred racing track in Maryland.The House of Delegates also signed off on a 30 cents-a-pack cigarette tax increase, which will generate about $77 million a year in state revenue. It is the first major tax boost since the recession year of 1992, when the state increased taxes on tobacco, gasoline and income.Both measures go to Gov. Parris N. Glendening for his promised signature.

RECENTLY, the state and Montgomery County teamed up to offer Marriott International Inc. a record $50 million public subsidy package to keep it from moving to Virginia.But it seems that package wasn't generous enough. Now Marriott reportedly is pressing a counteroffer seeking a reduction in the $1.3 million in annual property taxes it pays on its current Bethesda headquarters. Before, the discussion had centered around tax breaks for a new headquarters in Rockville or an addition to the current complex.

WASHINGTON -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush's rivals for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination, already reeling from the disclosure that he has raised more than $36 million, face another money setback that can be attributed indirectly to his father, former President George Bush.The senior Bush's Treasury Department laid down a ruling in 1991 that will put an additional squeeze on all the other GOP hopefuls except self-financing multimillionaire Steve Forbes. It decided, whether by political calculation or otherwise, to adopt a payout schedule of the federal subsidy to candidates under the 1974 campaign finance law that will deny them much of the money for which they've qualified at precisely the time they will most need it.The law stipulates that the subsidy be paid starting Jan. 1 of the presidential election year on a dollar-for-dollar matching basis for funds raised in amounts of $250 or less during the previous year.

WASHINGTON -- The floodgates are wide open for record spending in the 2000 presidential campaign now that the Republican filibusterers in the Senate have prevailed once again in their determination to block meaningful campaign finance reform.Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Russell Feingold of Wisconsin got a little closer to collecting the 60 votes they needed to break the stranglehold of chief opponent Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, picking up three new Republican recruits.

In a full-page advertisement in The Sun business section Friday, friends and business associates of John Paterakis criticized this newspaper for its coverage of the downtown hotel controversy in which he's embroiled and defended Paterakis as a good man - "some might even say a great man" - and solid citizen of Baltimore. They, of course, endorsed his plan for major hotel at Inner Harbor East.There's no disputing Paterakis' good citizenship. He has maintained his successful bakery business here, purchased property here, supported charities here, invested in political campaigns here.

Legislation pending before the Maryland General Assembly would order a study of the viability of the state's major racetracks and racing industry, to determine whether they require continued taxpayer subsidy.Del. John R. Leopold, an Anne Arundel County Republican, sought unsuccessfully to delay any further subsidies to the industry until the report could be completed."I happen to think we have higher priorities than to bail out millionaires," Leopold said.Pub Date: 4/02/98

Key leaders of the General Assembly said yesterday that they would not support a bill that could block construction of the 41-story Wyndham Inner Harbor East hotel, a project that has been criticized because it would require more than $40 million in public subsidies.House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said yesterday that they would not support legislation that would force the city to win voter approval before spending public money on the controversial $132 million project.

Sigrid Kingsbury lost her job recently as a real estate manager, and like many laid-off workers she opted to continue health insurance coverage under her old employer's plan. And like many, the Severna Park resident was in for a shock. She used to pay $104 a month for medical, dental and vision coverage while working. Now, she must also pay her ex-employer's share of the premiums. Her cost will jump to $517 a month - for medical coverage only. That's about one-third of her monthly unemployment benefits.

It's been about a month since the Maryland Transportation Authority approved plans to start charging a modest monthly fee for E-ZPass accounts, and the expressions of outrage continue to flow. You want sympathy? Don't look for it here. Call a politician. Your local legislators might be happy to introduce a bill to roll back the increase or to put the General Assembly in charge of the matter. Oops, some already have. Those bills are all but certain to fail for several reasons. One is that the legislature has no business wading into toll decisions.

City prosecutors, police create cases Although a series of Baltimore search warrants and arrests last week resulted in federal charges for drug dealing and firearms violations ("Raids yield arrests, heroin," Sept. 12), the investigations that led to those cases were conducted in large part by local prosecutors and police. In many proactive investigations that result in federal drug and gun charges, Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy and her assistant state's attorneys work with Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III and his police officers to obtain evidence through wiretaps and search warrants and pursue other investigative leads.

Adrienne Summers left a job this month to focus on running her floral shop full time in Frederick County. But the decision meant losing health insurance for her and her two children. Seeking affordable options, Summers stumbled onto an attractive offer: A new state program that would help provide coverage for employees and their families at small businesses, like hers, that don't provide insurance. Under the Health Insurance Partnership, a business that has fewer than nine full-time employees with an average wage below $50,000 is eligible for subsidies to cover up to 50 percent of premiums.

Chester Burrell, chief executive of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, stood between Gov. Martin O'Malley and a phalanx of Maryland officials yesterday as they touted the company's contribution to help seniors pay for prescription drugs. After two months as CareFirst's CEO, Burrell is forging a relationship with state leaders that is in stark contrast to the rocky relations between state officials and his predecessor, William L. Jews. Before stepping down in 2006, Jews drew fire from lawmakers and regulators when he attempted to convert CareFirst to a for-profit operation and sell it several years ago. Burrell says he is committed to CareFirst's status as a not-for-profit entity.

In a public-private partnership to help thousands of seniors struggling to pay for prescription drugs, Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to announce today a deal with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield to help cover those caught in a Medicare gap. The agreement would help seniors bridge the "doughnut hole," a much criticized cost-saving measure built into the Medicare prescription drug benefit passed by Congress in 2003. The program covers annual prescription costs up to a certain amount and costs above a higher threshold, but not those in between, leaving a hole in the middle of the coverage plan.

In the Senate last week, history was in the making, and almost a moment to be proud of. A majority of senators voted to shrink federal crop subsidies to wealthy farmers and landowners, and well over a third favored scrapping the subsidy program altogether. But close only counts in horseshoes. Those long-overdue reforms, which would have put some of the savings into nutrition and conservation programs, needed a three-fifths majority to pass. Corporate farms and land conglomerates still have enough support among lawmakers from the South and Midwest to keep the agri-welfare system intact for another five years.

Insurance Commissioner Ralph S. Tyler directed yesterday that the state's largest medical malpractice insurer pay its entire $68.6 million dividend to the state, with none going to doctors. He delayed his order for 30 days, however, to allow the insurer to work out a different way to use some of its surplus money to keep premiums stable for physicians. If the insurer and the regulator can't agree, doctors could face a 22 percent rate increase Jan. 1 after three years of stability. The insurer, Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland, wanted to keep payments level by distributing a third of the dividend to physicians as a credit against 2008 premiums.

American paper manufacturers, such as NewPage Corp. in Allegany Co., cleared an important hurdle toward getting anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties slapped on cheap Chinese imports of coated sheet paper. The Commerce Department on Thursday affirmed its decision made on March 30 to impose duties on glossy paper products from China, Indonesia and South Korea. It is the first time in 23 years the the department has agreed to apply its anti-subsidy trade law to communist or "non-market economies" such as China.

The state's largest malpractice insurer must pay its entire $68.6 million dividend to the state or cut its premiums, but it can't distribute any of the money to doctors, the Maryland Insurance Administration argued yesterday. With malpractice claim payouts declining, the insurer, Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland, declared the dividend last month but payment was blocked by state regulators who wanted to study the issue. Med Mutual said it would pay about two-thirds of the dividend to the state, in partial return for nearly $80 million in state premium subsidies paid since 2005.