In the Senate’s proposed budget plan, some of the costs of teacher retirement would be shifted to county school boards over the next four years, not to the county governments next year, as Gov. Martin O’Malley had proposed. But the approved proposal would ultimately force counties to give their school boards $500 million more over the next four years. [...more]
Senate President Mike Miller told county officials from across that Maryland that he wants to expand casino gambling, increase the gas tax and push some of the costs of state pensions onto the counties. [...more]
Hurricane Irene blew political coverage off the media websites, but how chief executives handle a storm can be intensely political. Irene gave a media boost to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, even as a Baltimore Sun poll released Sunday showed her clobbering her opponents in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary. [...more]
Yielding to pressure from local officials, the state is putting more time – and more feedback – into its comprehensive smart growth plan. The Maryland Department of Planning announced on Thursday that it will allow about two more months for people to review and comment on the final version of PlanMaryland. [...more]
The Maryland Municipal League representing 157 municipal government is marking its 75th anniversary. “Cities and towns provide basic grassroots meat and potatoes services,” said Scott Hancock, executive director of the Maryland Municipal League. But counties provide those services -- like water and sewer, emergency responders, trash and recycling pickup, and parks and recreation -- too. Their overlapping duties require a lot of give-and-take. [...more]
While most of the focus on pension reform for public employees has been on the state as a whole, counties are also finding themselves with growing unfunded liabilities, according to a new interactive chart launched on Tuesday by the Maryland Public Policy Institute. The pension map plots out the amount that each county and Baltimore City spent on pensions – both in benefits paid out and in the employer contribution – in the last fiscal year. [...more]
Gov. Martin O’Malley gave county officials from across Maryland some good news at their annual meeting Thursday night, saying he would not seek to shift the huge costs of teacher pensions to them “this year.” O’Malley said the state needed to make the pension system more sustainable first by either reducing benefits or increasing contributions from employees before shifting those costs – now approaching $1 billion a year – onto county governments. [...more]
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, the state’s youngest county executive, becomes the key spokesman for local officials across Maryland after he is inaugurated as president of the Maryland Association of Counties tonight. MACo is always a major player in Annapolis, but this is a particularly crucial year for the counties as they try to fend off further attempts to cut their state aid or dump more costs onto them. [...more]
There was so much bad news for county governments in the governor’s budget that they want to be able to pass some of the trouble down to their school systems. The Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) will ask the legislature to lift the requirement that local governments maintain the level of public school spending for the coming year. The counties had already been seeking legislation to make it easier for individual counties to apply for a waiver of this “maintenance of effort” law, but this change would give "blanket" permission for all counties to cut spending, though local school boards have been wary of reductions. [...more]
If the dueling presentations by two General Assembly leaders that startled a meeting of county officials Friday was a taste of fights to come, the legislative session starting today promises to be contentious, partisan and painful. Finger-pointing accusations will soon replace back-slapping camaraderie. Lawmakers are heading into an election year when the electorate is wary and many voters are angry and unemployed. [...more]
