Year S Budget

Former County Executive Habern W. Freeman made a presentation before the County Council Dec. 11 during which he contended that County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann has been incorrect in her portrayal of the the county budget and the use of budget surplus money. The text of Mr. Freeman's presentation follows:During the past week we have been presented with a deluge of false information and a fabrication on the subject of "surplus."County charter section 506:(1) A statement of all revenue estimated to be received by the county during the ensuing year.

The biggest item on the to-do list for the Maryland General Assembly in its final week is deciding on cuts to Gov. Martin O'Malley's budget proposal, and there are relatively few differences between the plans approved by the Senate and the House of Delegates. Each would shave about $125 million from the governor's $32 billion plan, significantly less than the $660 million the legislature cut last year or the $441 million it cut the year before. Whatever decisions the House and Senate make, this year's budget will be noteworthy as the first in recent history to be smaller than the budget from the previous year.

WASHINGTON -- The months-long budget crisis appeared to have come to an end yesterday morning when the House of Representatives narrowly endorsed the most sweeping deficit reduction package in U.S. history.On a 228-200 vote, bleary-eyed lawmakers capped an all-night session and backed a package that would increase a variety of taxes and trim spending on a number of benefit programs, including Medicare. Voting yes were Maryland Democrats Beverly B. Byron, Benjamin L. Cardin, Steny H. Hoyer, Tom McMillen and Kweisi Mfume and Republican Constance A. Morella.

Even as the fiscal picture in Maryland brightens, Gov. Martin O'Malley called on the federal government Wednesday to provide more help to states that are laboring to keep their budgets balanced. The governor's plea came as state analysts announced that Maryland's revenue projections have fallen $77 million more for the current fiscal year and the next. While that means O'Malley will have less money for next year's budget, which he will present to the General Assembly in January, the decline was far less precipitous than previous Maryland revenue adjustments during the recession.

Annapolis Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins said yesterday that he wants to take a bite out of crime, not his constituents' wallets.Hopkins presented the City Council with a bare-bones $36.8 million operating budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, that would not increase the city's property tax rate but would raise fees and put a freeze on city employees' cost-of-living raises.The spending plan -- a 3.4 percent increase over last year's budget -- includes 11 new police officers and emergency dispatchers, as well as 10 patrol cars.

When County Executive Charles I. Ecker starts work on his second budget with a public hearing Wednesday, he is expected to tell people the county's economic woes will not end soon.The county will have to endure "a very restrained budget at least one more year," said county budget director Raymond S. Wacks. "We had said last year that we hoped the situation would improve and that the constraints would be temporary. Now we will be telling people to tighten their belts anotheryear or two."Ecker will set the tone for Wednesday's hearing with a short "reality presentation" outlining the county's dire financial outlook, Wacks said.

Baltimore School Superintendent Walter G. Amprey proposed a $581.5 million budget last night for the fiscal year beginning July 1 that calls for spending $223 more per student.The proposal amounts to an increase of $37.1 million -- or 6.8 percent -- over this year's budget.It allows for staffing of kindergarten programs that were mandated by the General Assembly last year.The programs are to begin in September.While the superintendent's new budget does not include layoffs, it lops more than $1.6 million off administrative costs by reducing central office staff to the "right size," Mr. Amprey said.

Anticipating more cuts from the state, the board of trustees of AnneArundel Community College has adopted a budget requesting 10.6 percent less in state funding and only 2.8 percent more from the county.Board members adopted a $31.1 million operating budget Tuesday night, $1.1 million above current spending levels."This is the most equitable budget we can present," board President Donald C. Roane said.Like many of the county's institutions, the community college was forced to cut $3.1 million this fiscal year when the state reduced its contribution in order to balance its budget.

Republican lawmakers said yesterday that $82 million in surplus state money is "sloshing around" in state agencies, an amount that could be put toward next year's budget instead of proceeds from the keno electronic lottery game."

What a difference having a little more money makes.For the past two years, Howard County Council hearings on the executive's proposed capital budget have played to a crowded room with special interest groups vying for what little money was available.Last night, only 28 people -- including staff members from the council and the administration -- showed up to discuss County Executive Charles I. Ecker's proposed $76 million proposed capital budget for fiscal 1994.The county's bond affordability committee has advised Mr. Ecker that the county is financially strong enough to carry slightly more debt in the fiscal year beginning July 1. Mr. Ecker followed that advice and raised the capital budget $3 million.

Baltimore residents know they can phone the city's 311 call center to request alley cleanings, complain about noisy neighbors or inquire about a missed trash pickup. But what they might not know is that the employees who answer the telephone are garbed in matching attire paid for by taxpayers. Last week, the city's Board of Estimates, its spending board, approved $24,000 to buy new uniforms for call center employees. The money will pay for polo shirts, slacks and sweaters or hooded sweat shirts for about 80 workers, officials said.

Baltimore must carve $130 million from its already stripped-down spending plan to account for plummeting revenue and mushrooming pension costs next year, according to projections released Tuesday afternoon. The grim figures indicate the city, still reeling from sweeping cuts earlier this year, must dig even deeper to balance next year's budget. "It's almost immoral the way the budget is shaping up," Deputy Mayor Christopher Thomaskutty said. "At the end of the day, there's going to be significant service impacts if we don't see some changes."

Gov. Martin O'Malley said Friday he plans to propose as much as $700 million in budget cuts for the fiscal year that began just 10 days ago, as income tax receipts are projected to be lower than expected. At an appearance in Baltimore, O'Malley said his Cabinet and senior advisers have been working on a list of budget cuts that he hopes to present July 22 to the Board of Public Works for approval. His remarks about cutbacks in a $14 billion budget came after the state legislature's chief budget analyst warned of a widening shortfall.

The $13.8 billion state operating budget enacted Tuesday by the General Assembly is not a pretty thing. Shortchanged local governments can't be happy with it. Same with state employees who are going without steps or merit pay and agency heads who must do more with less. But it could have been far worse, and given the economic realities of the times, it's probably about right. Let that stand as no more than a qualified endorsement. Had President Barack Obama and Congress not provided $2.5 billion in stimulus money this year, the outcome would have been disastrous.

Gov. Martin O'Malley will present about $300 million in state budget cuts today to the Board of Public Works, as fiscal analysts warned that the state's financial outlook is rapidly deteriorating. The board, made up of the Democratic governor, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, is expected to approve the budget-balancing plan, which also includes transfers from other accounts to create a $150 million cushion in the $14 billion operating budget. "It's going to cause some pain and discomfort all around.

When Gov. Martin O'Malley began discussing the state budget deficit with a group of businessmen at a Frederick County Chamber of Commerce luncheon last week, he pitched his administration's frugality as the first step in putting Maryland's fiscal house in order. "We are going to solve it in a number of ways, and in fact, we have already begun," the first-year Democrat told the crowd. "The budget that we introduced and that the General Assembly passed almost unanimously was a budget wherein the size of your state government, spending-wise anyway, grew by only 2.7 percent, compared to 12.5 percent growth the year before.

Next year's budget could be his most difficult yet, Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker says.And that's saying a lot. Money was so tight in 1991 -- Mr. Ecker's first year -- that after raising taxes, laying off 40 employees and leaving another 119 positions unfilled, the county still suffered a $3 million deficit.To make ends meet the following fiscal year, the county furloughed employees for a week without pay and shifted money from pay-as-you-go projects to bond funding.Halfway through this fiscal year, county finances are more stable.

Harford County ended fiscal 1994 on June 30 with a surplus of more than $18 million, according to an independent audit released last week.County Treasurer James Jewell said the surplus included $8.634 million in unappropriated funds, a 5 percent account that is held aside from year to year as a savings account for emergencies.Another $8.78 million was appropriated but unspent money that was rolled into the fiscal 1995 operating budget for use after July 1.Year-end bills not paid until fiscal '95 accounted for the remaining $666,000 in surplus.

A state takeover and a freeze on city funds were among the sanctions proposed yesterday as elected officials at City Hall and the State House reacted to the disclosure that the Baltimore school system's $1.2 billion budget is riddled with errors. On the final day of the General Assembly session, lawmakers summoned school officials to Annapolis to question them about a Sun article reporting tens of millions of dollars in discrepancies in the budget the school board approved March 27. In dozens of cases in the budget for the next school year, as well as in the budget for the current academic year, the amount listed for salaries does not match the number of people who are supposed to be paid.

In an editorial yesterday, a reference to $6.1 billion in next year's budget should have included all education spending, not only for the No Child Left Behind law.