Year S Budget

Bowing to legislative wishes, Gov. Parris N. Glendening put money back in the budget yesterday to keep 51 prison teachers on the job.Legislators had been sharply critical of the governor's plan to reduce the state's prison education programs to the minimum required by the federal government. The cut was shortsighted, they argued, because most inmates eventually leave prison and try to return to the work force."I'm very glad he did it," said Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman, a Baltimore Democrat and chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee.

WHEN THE dust finally settles after the forthcoming battle over Carroll County's education budget, none of the participants -- from the commissioners to students -- will emerge unscathed. However, the Board of Education and the commissioners must fashion a spending plan that does the least amount of damage to the young people it is designed to serve.The school board has proposed a total budget of $143,449,246 -- an increase of about $9 million from this year's budget. The county will be responsible for providing about $81.8 million of the total.

Washington -- Deficit hawks, those tight-fisted scolds who thought this year offered the best chance they'd ever seen for bringing the federal budget into balance, are starting to lose hope.The Republican-led drive to cut spending dramatically in order to wipe out the deficit by 2002 suffered a big setback last week when President Clinton signaled through his 1996 budget proposal that the GOP is on its own.Not surprisingly, the president, who made major progress on the deficit during his first two years in office, only to be pounded by the Republicans and repudiated by the voters in the mid-term elections, decided to let the new congressional majority absorb this round of budget-cutting pain.

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.

Howard Community College employees will pay more for their medical insurance and evening students will not get expanded financial aid services if the County Council goes ahead with a proposed $200,000 cut in the school's $23.6 million operating budget request for next fiscal year.Other areas, such as staff development and entrance testing for students, also would be hit hard, said Dwight Burrill, the community college's president.He called the $200,000 cut proposed by County Executive Charles I. Ecker a serious blow to the college, even though Mr. Ecker is still proposing to give the college $525,000 more than it got in the current fiscal year's budget.

Snow, sleet, freezing rain and frigid temperatures have made driving on Carroll's roads as exciting as a ride on a roller coaster and as nightmarish as an evening with the Joker. Even though Monday's storm is a now a memory, its legacy of ice-encrusted roads and sidewalks remain. These thick patches of ice refuse to disappear. Warmed by the radiant heat of the sun, compacted snow and ice liquefy during the day and freeze solid at night.To remove the snow and ice from the roads, county and town governments have crews plowing and spreading thousands of tons of salt on the roads.

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.

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.

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."

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.