Sara Michael, The Examiner
2008-04-02 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

BALTIMORE -

From warehouses to fire stations, several projects didn’t make their way into Howard County Executive Ken Ulman’s proposed fiscal 2009 capital budget, or the funding was split across a few years.

The $420.8 million proposal, released Tuesday, reflects tight budget times from declining real estate taxes and state funding, Ulman said.

And it’s far less than the $533.7 million in capital budget requests, he said.

“We squeezed a lot of places in this budget to get it down to an acceptable level,” Ulman said at a briefing on his proposal.

The budget funds some of the county’s top priorities, such as the North Laurel Community Center and technology upgrades, he said.

Spending was strained due to a decrease in real estate taxes, such as the transfer and recordation taxes, which help fund capital projects, said Budget Director Ray Wacks.

Officials expect to collect about $22 million in transfer taxes in fiscal 2008, which is $6 million less than they budgeted for in 2008 and $8 million less than collected in fiscal 2007, Wacks said.

Several school system requests were deferred in the proposed budget, including the $33 million renovation and addition at the former Cedar Lane School site in Columbia for use as a community center and staff offices.

Although he supports the project, Ulman said, “I don’t believe it is something we can afford.”

Ulman also left out the $12 million requested for a warehouse facility to replace the space the Board of Education rents. The board had not picked out a site for the new facility, Ulman said.

The school system had submitted a $118 million budget proposal, but Ulman’s proposal dedicated $80.47 million for school renovation and construction.

The school system wasn’t the only part of the budget to see tightening.

Funding for the construction of a new Miller branch library was split over two years, with $7.7 million of the $26 million project included in the fiscal 2009 proposal.

Another $6.7 million also was deferred for enclosing a firing range at the new public safety training center in Marriottsville.

Howard Community College also didn’t receive the $15 million requested for a new parking garage, and two new fire station projects were put on hold.

“There were some projects that got cut, but I think they were the right projects,” said Council Chairwoman Courtney Watson, D-District 1, adding the council will review every item “with a fine-toothed comb.”

smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com