Tax Increase

Carroll's six state legislators each voted Monday against raising taxes intended to generate about $90.1 million to balance next year's budget and restore cuts in state aid for education.The delegation split evenly in its vote on the $11.6 billion budget proposal, which stipulates that $65.4 million in state education aid for counties would be cut if the tax package were not approved. In each chamber, the budget vote preceded the tax vote.The proposed cuts in Action Plan for Excellence, known as APEX, afund used to improve local school programs and teacher benefits, would mean a $2.5 million reduction in Carroll's public schools budget.

Legislators are wringing their hands over the state's budget crisis, but they have not come near to agreeing on how to solve it.A state senator introduced a minor tax bill that would restore some cuts to the state police and MedEvac helicopter program yesterday, while key delegates are hoping to persuade the governor to reconsider his $450 million budget-slashing plan.Gov. William Donald Schaefer, however, has his own ideas.He wants the legislature to come up with a more far-reaching plan to counteract the sweeping budget cuts approved Wednesday.

Crofton homeowners voted themselves a slight tax increase for fiscal year 2004 last night, in a move community leaders deemed necessary because of rising insurance costs for the town's police force and public officials. Crofton Civic Association President Steve Grimaud urged the homeowners at Crofton's annual general membership meeting at Crofton Elementary School to approve a new tax rate of 12.3 cents per $100 of assessed value, up from 11.4 cents in the current fiscal year. The vote was 107 for the tax increase and 9 against.

Noting the prospect of future budget deficits and a need to beef up salaries for teachers and police, Harford County Executive James M. Harkins is to propose today a $258 million spending plan that comes with a tax increase for county residents. Harkins' operating budget includes a plan to increase the county's piggyback tax rate from 50 percent to 60 percent -- which would cost an unmarried taxpayer with a gross income of $25,000 about $90 more a year. "It's not something I want to be doing," said Harkins, a first-term Republican.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening has decided not to seek an increase in Maryland's gas tax this year, in effect conceding that he does not have the votes in the General Assembly to raise the levy when the state has a substantial budget surplus. But Glendening still feels that an increase in the 23.5-cent-a-gallon gas tax, or another tax, will be needed to help pay for billions of dollars in highway and mass transit improvements. He is expected to seek some type of tax increase next year for transportation projects, and the difficult selling job starts now. The governor and top legislative leaders issued a joint statement yesterday saying they will ask a task force to tour the state and talk to the public about the need for more transportation funding.

THE 27-CENT increase in the property tax rate adopted by the Carroll County Board of Commissioners last week was a necessary, if unpopular, step for a rapidly growing county with a backlog of long delayed needs and a list of mounting obligations.It must not be seen as prelude to a series of tax increases in coming years. Rather, it is a clarion call for the commissioners to exert strong, foresighted budgetary and fiscal leadership. It is an opportunity to catch up, which must not be squandered, and to get the county's finances on firm footing; interest payments on county debt will rise 28 percent in 1996-97.

ANNAPOLIS -- The House Ways and Means Committee voted unanimously last night to kill Gov. William Donald Schaefer's proposed gas tax increase, a decision that Schaefer aides said will mean no new road construction in Maryland for the next 18 months to two years."

Republican Greg Fox's goal was clear yesterday as the new Howard County Council held its first budget review - find a way to eliminate an increase in the fire property tax proposed by County Executive Ken Ulman. In theory, that might not seem too difficult. Just find $7.7 million to cut from other capital projects in the $354 million budget to pay for the fire service improvements Fox wants and that the tax revenue would provide. The tough part for Fox might be attracting two more votes from the council's four Democrats.

Howard County's business leaders want expensive new roads and interchanges, but they would rather not have the state increase the gasoline tax to pay for it, according to this year's list of General Assembly priorities from the Chamber of Commerce. Without the higher taxes, the new roads might be impossible, chamber leaders acknowledged at the group's annual legislative breakfast yesterday at the Columbia Hilton. They have another solution in mind -- one with which several of the General Assembly's top Republicans agree.

One of a group of protesters sitting outside the governor's Baltimore office handed a buddy a muffin, telling him to eat a piece then pass it around -- for the "symbolism."The Coalition to Overturn the Budget Cuts strove to symbolize their unity yesterday -- members snacked together, sang together, argued with gubernatorial staff members together and finally nine of them got arrested together for trespassing at the closed office building.The coalition, representing some state government workers, college students and social services recipients, protested for eight hours against state budget cuts approved last month.