The Department of Legislative Services has recommended that the General Assembly eliminate the extra “capital grants” provided in the Governor’s proposed budget, to be distributed to local roads and bridges. They recommend only funding the limited extra amount required to maintain current funding levels.

The DLS analysis of the Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary includes these recommended reductions:

Baltimore City funding reduced from 5,484,423 to 2,000,000
County Governments reduced from 27,422,115 to 4,000,000
Municipal Governments reduced from 20,109,551 to 19,000,000

The analysis, and the presentation from the staff during the hearing, allude to future recommendations that may work in concert with this funding reduction to address technical concerns raised by DLS.

For further background on this county priority issue, and the DLS objections, see previous Conduit Street coverage: Highway User Revenues – What’s On The Table?