In a statement released by Governor O’Malley and as reported in the Gazette, 21 counties and Baltimore City have been designated for federal aid resulting from the snow storms in February. This designation does not result in the immediate distribution of funds, but a process of totaling reimbursable expenses with local and state emergency response agencies.
In addition, all 24 jurisdictions are eligible to seek grants for mitigating long-term risks to life and property from the storms.
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Posted by Andrea Mansfield
The Baltimore Sun reports this morning that Baltimore, Caroline, Cecil, Harford, Howard, Kent, Montgomery and Queen Anne’s counties will be eligible for federal funding for snowstorm damage suffered in December. The State and certain private nonprofits will also be eligible for emergency protective measures.
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Posted by Emily Hollis
The Governor’s Office, in partnership with MDOT, plans to hold a conference call tomorrow morning with County Administrators from every jurisdiction to go over a State/local partnership plan moving forward regarding this week’s historic storms. Counties’ chief elected officials are also welcome to join the call. Matt Gallagher, the Governor’s Chief of Staff, will lead the briefing.
County officials have been notified directly about the call logistics, but those with questions may contact the Governor’s Office of Intergovernmental Relations at 443-336-2800.
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Posted by Michael Sanderson
The Governor, speaking from the State’s emergency operations center, suggested it will be Friday before Maryland roadways are cleared.
Meanwhile, every single Maryland county has declared a “snow emergency,” according to the State Police.
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Posted by Michael Sanderson
There are numerous reports today on the budgetary impact of these unprecendented snow storms hitting our area. Previous reports indicated that the State had already overspent its snow budget. The Baltimore Sun is reporting that this most recent storm has cost the State $35 million so far.
We have been gearing up all day,” said O’Malley during an afternoon news conference, adding that the bill so far to keep roads clear has been $35 million.
The Baltimore Sun also reports on the difficulties facing surrounding counties.
Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold has activated the Emergency Operations Center in Glen Burnie to handle calls from residents. The county’s 284 plows have been on the streets with county workers and private contractors working 12-hour shifts since Friday.
“They’re working very hard under trying conditions,” Leopold said. Anne Arundel spent $2.2 million in the December snowstorm and another $3.5 million for last weekend’s storm. The county has also arranged for an emergency shelter at Annapolis High School in the event of widespread power outages; the shelter, which also accommodates pets, had not been activated Tuesday night.
Other articles are doing the same. The Towson Times reports the challenges faced by Baltimore County.
Tim Burgess, Cheif of the County’s Bureau of Highways estimated the price tag for the blizzard will top $4 million, and that’s before this next storm hits.
Even prior to the blizzard, the county had plowed through the $6 million budgeted for emergency storm cleanup.
At the same time, Governor O’Malley has asked citizens to be patient with local governments as they do their best to get the snow off the roads.
The governor asked residents to tamp down their anger with local officials over roads that have not been adequately plowed. “There is no city or county government that is geared up to move all of this snow” as quickly as people would like, he said.
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Posted by Andrea Mansfield
Due to the weather forecast and poor road conditions, the MACo office will be closed Wednesday, February 10. All meetings at the MACo office are cancelled.
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Posted by Emily Hollis
Due to the next forecasted wallop of a snowstorm for today and tomorrow, we have canceled the Wednesday, February 10 Legislative Committee meeting and both the Tax and Education Subcommittee meetings scheduled at MACo in Annapolis.
Our downtown streets are barely passable and Annapolis residents are parking in the Noah Hillman Parking Garage free, compliments of Mayor Cohen until the streets are cleared for parking, which means greatly reduced parking. By Wednesday morning, we certainly think the streets will be much worse, compounded by poor visibility.
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Posted by Emily Hollis
In coverage likely consistent with that across the state, the Carroll County Times reports that county and municipal budgets are in great distress over the need to fund snow removal for recent, and anticipated weather conditions.
Carroll County
Saturday’s snowstorm cost the county an estimated $145,000 to clean up, according to Ted Zaleski, director of Management and Budget.
The county has spent approximately 90 percent of the $1.7 million it budgeted for snow removal this fiscal year, Zaleski wrote in an e-mail.
If the county exhausts what it has budgeted, it will fall back on its reserve for contingencies. However, the fund only has $500,000 remaining because the county committed $4 million from it to offset projected revenue shortfalls.
“With some luck on the weather, the reserve for contingencies will cover us. If we get a lot of bad weather the next step would be looking at all of the budgets to see what funding could be made available to cover additional costs,” Zaleski wrote in an e-mail.
Given the deep state cuts, eliminating nearly all of the Highway User Revenues for county and municipal governments in FY 2010 (and proposed for FY 2011 and 2012), the ability of local governments to redirect other transportation funds toward this effort is severely limited.
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Posted by Michael Sanderson
As reported by the Gazette, the State of Maryland has exceeded its budget for FY 2010 and some counties are close to or have exceeded their budgets as well.
“After one major storm, the state of Maryland has already plowed through its snow-removal budget for the season, and many counties have done the same. Officials say they will be forced to cut back on other services to pay for snow-removal and salt operations for the remainder of fiscal 2010.”
As reported in an earlier post, county and municipal funding for transportation budgets (the so-called Highway User Revenues, the share of state-levied gas and titling taxes distributed statewide to maintain local roads and bridges) was slashed by the State this year due to budget constraints. Since local governments in Maryland do not have any independent means to raise transportation revenues, local maintenance and resurfacing budgets have been nearly wiped out for the current year statewide.
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Posted by Andrea Mansfield
The Washington Post reports that Prince George’s County has already exceeded its annual allotment for snow removal costs, resulting from the heavy blanketing the region received this last week.
We’re still waiting on final numbers, but Prince George’s officials said Tuesday that the recent massive snow storm used up all the money the county had budgeted for snow removal this winter, and then some. That means if the area gets hit again, it will have to dip into other budget areas to fund the cleanup.
“We pretty much used what we had budgeted in FY10 because this is such a big storm,” said John Erzen, spokesman for County Executive Jack B. Johnson. “Going forward, there’s a lot of things that we’ll look to do. …We’re already in a cost savings mode. … We could go through the rest of this winter and not have another snow storm, or we could go through the rest of the winter and have three more storms. … That’s all up in the air.”
County and municipal funding for transportation budgets (the so-called Highway User Revenues, the share of state-levied gas and titling taxes distributed statewide to maintain local roads and bridges) was slashed by the State this year due to budget constraints. Prince George’s County saw its share of Highway User Revenues drop from about $24 million in FY 2009 to just over $1 million for FY 2010 – a more than 95% reduction comparable to that faced by nearly every county. Since local governments in Maryland do not have any independent means to raise transportation revenues, local maintenance and resurfacing budgets have been nearly wiped out for the current year statewide.
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Posted by Michael Sanderson
