Anne Arundel County Budget Proposal to Include Property Tax Increase and Employee Pay Reductions

April 13, 2011

As reported in the Capital, County Executive Leopold will be presenting his budget to the Anne Arundel County Council this Friday, which will include recommendations for employee pay cuts as well as funding reductions for schools and libraries.   The budget also includes  a property tax increase that according the the county’s budget officer, enables the county to recapture revenues lost due to declining home values.  Members of the school board, library system and employee unions are already speaking out about the budget proposal.

The library system is putting the impact of possible cuts front and center on its website and expects a public outcry over any deep slashing of the system’s budget, Hayes said. Town hall meetings on possible library cuts drew about 850 people over the past few months.

School leaders already have tossed around doomsday options if schools received the cuts the county has signaled. At recent meeting, school leaders bandied about the possibility of furloughs, teacher layoffs and suspending special magnet programs.

“Everything’s on the table,” schools spokesman Bob Mosier said.

Some county unions have lobbied for a jump in the county’s income tax instead of another year of pay cuts for employees.

1 Comment | County Budgets | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Michele Dinkel

Queen Anne’s County Task Force to Recommend Actions to Resolve $11.3 Million Deficit for FY 12

April 13, 2011

In a memo dated April 12 to the Queen Anne’s County Commissioners and made public on the County blog, the County Administrator outlined a projected $11.3 million deficit for FY 12.  The deficit numbers were revised downward from previous estimates. This new estimate may impact the recommendations of the Task Force on Government Sustainability set to be released this week.  The Task Force appointed by the County Commissioners and facilitated by past House of Delegates Appropriations Committee member and past MACo President, Murray Levy, is looking at many of the counties’ operations to find potential efficiencies as a way to make up for the projected deficit.

The task force’s FY 11 budget recommendations were recently implemented and outlined in a March 3 Conduit Street blog post. The $5 million reduction resulting from the implementation included layoffs, department restructuring and service reductions.

Leave a Comment » | County Budgets | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Michele Dinkel

State Budget Decisions Pose Challenges to Prince George’s County FY 12 Schools Budget

April 8, 2011

The Gazette is reporting that Prince George’s County Council Chair Ingrid Turner is requesting additional meetings with General Assembly representatives from the county to discuss county budget shortfalls created as a result of state decisions on pensions and school aid to local governments.

The county council learned during a budget briefing Tuesday that Prince George’s is expected to get between $6 million and $14 million in additional state aid; the county had sought about $20.9 million more, the amount Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) cut from the schools’ original funding request.

In both budget versions, lawmakers increased the amount the state spends per student, which will bring Prince George’s about $10.3 million more, Himler said. But next year, Maryland is also requiring the county to pay about $163 per worker — a total of $2.4 million — for the pensions offered to employees in the Prince George’s public schools system, community college and library system.

Matthew Stanski, chief financial officer for the county school system, said the county based its $1.6 billion education budget on the assumption it would get the additional $20 million.

1 Comment | County Budgets, Employee Benefits and Relations | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michele Dinkel

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