As previously reported on Conduit Street, the recent Maryland Court of Appeals decision in DeWolfe v. Richmond held that indigent detainees have a right to representation for bail hearings or review before a District Court Commissioner or District Court Judge.  The holding poses potentially significant logistical and cost challenges to local law enforcement and correctional facilities, the Office of the Public Defender, State’s Attorneys, and the court system.  On January 26 the House Judiciary Committee held a 4-plus hour briefing on the issue.

District Court Commissioners, who determine the initial status of an arrestee, are active 24 hours a day/7 days a week, including holidays, at 41 sites across the State.  Bail hearings before a District Court judge, on the other hand, generally happen during the 5-day work week and during normal working hours.  A prisoner must be given a bail hearing during the next hearing session (which could be immediately if one is occurring at the moment).

The Public Defender’s Office was supportive of the Court’s decision but did state that the Office could not meet the requirements with current staffing and budget levels.  Citing reduced staff, high caseload levels, The Office estimated that it would need a deficiency request of $28 million for FY 2012 to hire panel attorneys to handle short-term compliance.  For long-term compliance, the Office estimated it would need 260 more attorneys (approximately 50% increase) plus support staff, information technology, and supplies.  The Office complimented the help of local correctional facilities in helping to develop a compliance plan.

Judiciary Chairman Joe Vallario noted that the State’s Attorneys must also have a presence.  Representatives from the State’s Attorneys Association confirmed his assessment.  While also supportive of the case holding, they put compliance costs at $83-$100 million for them, with a similar number for the Public Defender’s Office.  They proposed a statutory fix to the issue, with language that would require indigent representation before a judge but not before a District Court Commissioner (who are typically not attorneys).

*Prior to traveling to any meetings please confirm the accuracy of the meeting dates and locations with the respective committee as they are subject to last minute changes. Click here to access the Maryland General Assembly Hearing Schedule Index*

Tuesday, January 31

• State Retirement Agency-Update on 2011 Pension Reforms
  House Appropriations-Full Committee Briefing
  1:00 p.m.
  House Office Building, Room 120

Thursday, February 2

• Local Aid Briefing by MACo, MML, & DLS
  House Ways & Means
  11:00 a.m.
  House Office Building, Room 130
• Chesapeake Bay Overview
  House Appropriations-Transportation & the Environment Subcommittee
  1:00 p.m.
  House Office Building, Room 120
  

How much funding will Carroll County receive from the state? Will increased teacher pension costs affect staffing? Can the county spend more money on libraries, non-profit organizations and other citizen services? Can county roads be repaved?

These are just a few of the questions that the Carroll County Board of Commissioners and staff will have to answer as it develops the Fiscal Year 2013 operating budget. Ted Zaleski, director of the county’s department of management and budget, gave the board an overview of the proposed recommended budget developed by he and other county staff.

Following is an excerpt from MACo’s testimony on the teacher pension shift.

Even the Administration’s own materials acknowledge that only “year one” is the offset target for the bill’s other fiscal components.  After FY 2013, contribution costs go up, the local offsets go down, and counties will take an even bigger hit, leaving many counties seeking local tax increases even in the most optimistic of scenarios.

Further, many components of this offset will take extensive discussion and compromise during the Session.  There has already been much discussion about the capping of income tax deductions and the phasing-out of exemptions for high income earners; and counties cannot build a budget on the closing of a transfer tax loophole when these types of transactions vary from one year to the next.  Further, some of the mitigation effort relieves burdens on school boards, rather than the counties who receive the new shifted pension burden.

Members of the panel also commented on the Administration’s claim that a “sharing of retirement costs will incentivize locals to consider the impact of salary decisions on retirement benefits.

County governments have no control over the setting of teacher salaries, and do not even have a seat at the table to negotiate benefits and terms. This responsibility lies solely with the boards of education.  Shifting retirement costs to the county does not provide an incentive for boards of education to hold the line on salaries, any more than current law requires school budget proposals to reflect any fiscal consideration or balance.  School boards are free to negotiate and propose any budget they deem suitable, and the county is to work within the narrow confines of the state’s funding requirements and its own other service needs to arrive at a balanced budget.

County Council President Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1) of Potomac, County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and members of the delegation are meeting weekly to discuss how to argue against the proposal in Annapolis.

“We are prepared to fight this,” Leggett said. “This is a serious matter for the county, I’m not sure it gets more serious.”

Montgomery County has closed more than $2 billion in funding gaps during the past five years, Leggett said. Trimming more spending from areas already cut is nearly impossible.

Financially, the status quo is beneficial to Montgomery County, which has the largest school system in the state as well as the fastest growing, said Annapolis delegation chairman Del. Brian J. Feldman, (D-Dist. 15) of Potomac.

“We do not want a change to the current arrangement,” he said. “We will push back on any attempt to change that.”

With the budget process accelerating, participants flocked to the state capital to compete for limited funds above an initial allocation of $250 million that will be divvied up among the state’s 23 counties and Baltimore.

Jocularly known around Annapolis as the “Beg-a-Thon” but rechristened the “Hope-a-Thon” by Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), the appeals to the three members who sit on the Board of Public Works take on more importance this year as O’Malley’s budget proposes a near-record $372 million for school construction.

This increased funding for school construction was previously reported on  Conduit Street.   MACo’s Legislative Committee adopted its annual initiatives for 2012, including School Construction and Renovation Funding on this list of top priority items for the 2012 legislative session. From the initiative summary:

School Construction and Renovation Funding

While the State has laudably increased its school construction and renovation efforts in recent years, the need for funding remains high. Every state dollar invested in school projects leverages roughly two county dollars of local funding. MACo urges the General Assembly to continue its commitment by keeping school construction and renovation funding a high priority, and support a funding level consistent with its own adopted multi-year goals. Additionally, MACo urges the State to develop and adopt a new multi-year funding strategy as the current goal expires in FY 2013.

This year’s theme is “Healthy Counties, Healthy Families,” which complements NACo President Lenny Eliason’s Healthy Counties presidential initiative. Counties can link their own county government month activities to this theme by promoting local health services and wellness program

For more information, check out the documents below:

2012 National County Government Month Handbook

2012 Online Award Entry Form

During Session, Buddy Alerts are sent via email when a vote on a specific bill is crucial. The alert will provide a brief overview of the legislation, MACo’s position, and a some quick talking points.  MACo encourages elected officials to sign up to participate in this effort by selecting  Delegate(s)/Senator(s) from the lists below. Prior to selecting your “buddies” take into consideration those with whom you have the best rapport and feel most comfortable conveying a position on a bill.

Please send buddy requests to Emily Hollis at ehollis@mdcounties.org.

2012 Maryland State Senators

2012 Maryland State Delegates

The Daily Times reports:

In the week since the council took its first vote, the state’s Interagency Committee on School Construction, given the lack of support from the County Council, began reappropriating millions of dollars it planned to give Wicomico County during the upcoming fiscal year to projects outside the region.

The committee was planning to move $3.85 million of $4.5 million to school construction and renovation projects on the western shore. If that money will now stay put given the County Council’s reversal remains to be seen.

…

The alternative funding plan, if approved by the County Council once it receives the operating budget for fiscal year 2013 in April, would bond $12.5 million for construction of the school during December.

Today, representatives from the Wicomico County Board of Education will speak with the Maryland Board of Public Works.

The superintendent makes it clear he considers the school system as not being part of the county government budget process. This insular view of budgeting allowed the Board of Education to ignore the recommendation of the county executive and the budget decision of the County Council and purchase a $4.5 million computer system for human resources and payroll needs, which is still inoperable.

It also resulted in school system employees receiving a 1 percent COLA in the current budget year despite county direction to not fund the COLA. And this was done while county employees were furloughed and the salaries of Anne Arundel Community College employees were frozen.

MACo compiled an MOE FAQ sheet that was presented to the Senate Budget and Taxation briefing this past summer.

In his column County Executive Leopold ends with his overall views on school funding…

It’s time for a major revision to Maryland’s school funding laws to include increased local oversight over non-classroom expenditures, recognition of the significant county funding increase in the past years, and a system of combined state and county funding that recognizes that the sources of all those dollars – the taxpayers – are not a bottomless well that supplies annual school budget increases regardless of the cost to other essential county services.