From the office of Del. Mary-Dulany James:
Dear Friends:
Last week Governor O’Malley presented his operating and capital budget proposals. The proposal balances the State’s budget primarily through cuts to State spending and re-formulations of longer term budgets. The Governor’s spending proposal cuts the structural deficit by 37% ($730M), balances the budget for FY12 and does not increase taxes. I think this is a strong budget proposal that accomplishes the difficult feat of being both balanced and not raising taxes on Marylanders during these trying times. Below are some of the highlights of the Governor’s proposal:
Protecting Education – The single largest investment that Maryland has made over the past decade is in the State’s K-12 public schools, university system and community colleges. The FY12 budget invests $5.7B in education for the second straight year, fully funds GCEI, provides $250M in school construction funding and keeps tuition at universities and community colleges affordable. All of these investments are made to provide a high quality workforce for the State’s knowledge-based economy.
Supporting State Workers – After being furloughed for three straight years, Governor O’Malley has ended furloughs for State employees. Over the past three years, State employees have given $580M back to the State as a result of the furlough program.
Promoting Job Creation – The Governor has included several job creating initiatives, including a capital budget that will put nearly 15,000 people to work. The FY12 budget proposal provides $12.4M for stem cell research funding, $8M for the biotech tax credit, and $4M for the Maryland Biotech Center, all of which produce high paying jobs.
Reforming the Pension System – 2010 was the first time in three years that investment returns were positive for the State’s pension fund. However, the plan’s funded status has declined to 64% funded in recent years, due to the 2006 pension enhancement, steady increases in the teacher salary base and declines in the retirement system assets because of the recession. The Governor has proposed to reduce the unfunded retiree health liability by $7 billion and achieve 80% funding of the pension system over the next 10 years.
Streamlining Government – the Governor is proposing to merge the Maryland Higher Education Commission with the State Department of Education to form a single education agency that streamlines the Pre-K through post-graduate education system. The Governor is also proposing to consolidate smaller State police forces under the Department of General Services and consolidate highway maintenance functions within MDOT.
Maintaining Cash Reserves – The Rainy Day Fund is fully funded at $682M and the Governor has included a cash balance of $120M, for a total of over $800M in cash reserves.
This is the first step in a long budget process. The House will move the budget first this year: reviewing the budget, holding briefings and examining options for FY12 starting next week. The House will take a careful look at the Governor’s proposal and likely cut more from the budget in the coming weeks. I hope to protect those programs and projects that matter most to you. Please let my office know if there is anything in the budget that you have a particular interest in.
Very Truly Yours,
Mary-Dulany James
The governor has done a good job.
I don’t give the Governor any credit for this. He is staying in the “safe” zone due to future political ambitions. If he cared about the people of Maryland, he would not have raised taxes three years ago (of course that didn’t matter, they still voted him back in – saids alot about MD voters). This time he is leaving it up to the Legislature to slam Marylanders so he can displace the blame in future political endeavors.
However, I (we) may be surprised by those in Annapolis this time and maybe we won’t get slammed (at least this year). But it’s coming; if not this year, it will be next. One thing for sure, we will be safe three years from now because it will be too close to the next election (and maybe, just maybe, some will remember).
Hey, if you think this is bad, you might want to live in a few of the so called “Red” states or worse New Jersey. Take a look at those taxes. Oh and don’t forget Arnold’s mess on the West coast. Man I am starting to sound like some of you all. How does it sound? Quit blaming and finger pointing and come up with reasonable solutions that don’t favor you and screw a bunch of other people. We can’t want everything in terms of services and expect someone else to pay for it. Start living within your means and pay down debt. This goes for individuals, families, businesses and most of all government. Quit the political finger pointing crap. Oh by the way, I’m a independent and sick of the BS from both sides. If we could get rid of career politicians, both political parties, FOX “News”, MSNBC, AM talk radio and just for the fun of it texting(the one dude below thinks he is – case in point), we could probably do more to improve this country than anything else that has been suggested. However, we do have that constitution thing that protects the bad equally with the good.
Rob-there you go again…to borrow from the great communicator. The governor has made lemonade with the lemons left over from the previous republican administration. Our state govt has maintained a strong fiscal position and continues to provide for the BASIC services that Marylanders deserve. If you don’t like it, you can move to PA and pay school taxes on top of property taxes and the such. I would hope the legislature will take a look at raising alcohol taxes that have been the same since 1978 and use the money to pay the counties the money they need to run jails, schools and roads that are a state responsability which have been underfunded for the past 3 years due to the mess that BUSH and Erlich left us.
If there is one thing that I would ask the governor to do is to increase college tuition to a COLA system so that our taxes don’t have to subsidize public colleges to maintaing basic educational standards and use those dedicated funds to provide additional support to our public non-higher education school systems.
Frankly Speaking (politician),
There you go again with your political spin (you are good at it). You need to stop drinking that “Annapolis” cool-aid. What you are saying is completely untrue and you need to come clean. The previous governor took the track at raising fees to hold back the legislature from raising taxes. The state was in better shape until O’Malley took it over. Unfortunately, too many gullible Marylanders believed the O’Malley “spin” and voted the joker (and his friends) back in office (you are one of them). If you like this governor so much and believe his tax raising antics a few years ago favorable . . . write your check out. I’m sure the Annapolis gang needs more of your money.
erhlich raised fees. like omalley said that’s a tax. erlich couldn’t do much else due to dem legislature so blaming erlich for any kind of mess is bull. not that he was any gem. omalley is no gem either. obama bailed his fiscal butt out last year and before that sales tax rate hike. now booze and gas tax on the horizon so this bull about now tax hike basic political lying. we had a pompus republican governor and now we’ve got a guy who is trying to be JFK all over again. in both cases the middle to poor income guys like me trying to raise a family on one income are getting smoked. regressive tax crap like sales tax, gas tax, etc. hurt me and other little guys the most as we don’t have as much in our wallets to start with. I’m tired about hearing about our best days are ahead of us- the older I get the more I realize i might not be around for the best days. before i eternally check out i would really like to see major throw the bums out in maryland on the wholesale level. We have a state senate office building named after an entrenched thug. what a piece of work. and i’m not just talking dems. i’m no fan of grandstanders like Nancy Jacobs either. On the national level I’m glad Mike Steele got his butt kicked, what a self absorbed goof. Now I know MD will never wake up especially around the dc area, bunch of high brow, i’m smarter than you are arrogant rich folk. well maybe with this pay freeze for we feds, and coming grandstanding furloughs and pay cuts, may our beltway do gooder govt intelligents will hopefully feel the pain we on the low end of the totem pole are already experiencing. Maybe then we’ll have wholesale real change and not just this glib garbage from DC, Annapolis, and beyond. (ps how’d you like your bge bill last month – thanks Bob and Marty, for nothing.
Erhlich had nothing to do with the BGE hikes. The decision to deregulate was done by the democratic legislature (with some Republican support) before Erhlich came into office. And there wasn’t much he could do about it with the democratic legislature fighting him at every step. The dems in Annapolis are sly (dispicable, but sly). Under the Mike Miller and Mike Bush leadership they saw a way to destroy Erhlich and seat a democratic governor. With the Maryland “liberal” media at their side (Sun, TV stations), they were able to displace the blame for the BGE mess (to Erhlich) and unfortunately, many gullible Marylanders fell for it.
The Annapolis Dems, the likes of Mike Miller, Bush, Frosh, and many of the others are dispicable, but they are also smart, slick, sly politicians. They have Marylanders by the throat and the people don’t even know it. Of course many of the Marylanders in the larger jurisdictions that tend to support democratic candidates, benefit the most from tax and spend politicians. Erhlich was trapped in the lions den and could do hardly anything with this gang fighting him all the way.
rob-talk about spin….,Who sounds like a politician now.
I speak the truth and tell it like it is . . .
decoy dude,
You are correct. Many need to live within their means, including the government, but that does not mean we should be taxed to death. You are also correct that both parties are to blame, but we also need to add in the independents as well. Many voted for tax and spend liberals (Obama for instance) and now we are stuck with such things as health care bill that is good enough for all of us, but apparently not good enough for the members of the House and Senate, who exempted themselves. And let’s not forget that some unions and a few others were also exempted. I wonder why. Follow the money and you will find it is money flowing into the coffers of democratic candidates. It must be a good health care plan. You may be an independent but it is the independents, for example, Joe Lieberman, who helped jam this bill down our throats.
Fingers have to be pointed to identify those who are responsible and voted out (it does work – an example Spector in PA – one of the worse – and many of the House members who lost their seats). It does work. The worse of the worse need to be pointed out and voted out.
So basically, Rob, you agree that both parties are to blame, and your solution is to vote out all Democrats because they are the only ones to blame? Spector was one of a dying breed- an actual moderate. He would vote based on the issue, not based on his party affiliation. He ended up changing his party affiliation because the Republicans didn’t like the fact that he wouldn’t do exactly what they told him to do. He ended up losing his seat because PA Democrats didn’t trust him to be a constant blue vote.
DecoyDude is absolutely correct. The problem with government is the constant push to place what’s good for the party over what’s good for the country.
Government needs to be what it was designed to be–a group of voices finding a middle ground. It’s sadly become more and more a group of people demanding their way with no compromise, while claiming that the other side is evil/Hitler/racist etc.
I Left,
Well said . . . and fair enough (you should call yourself “I Right” – then you would be on the right side). I just believe that identifying and voting the worse of the worse out (and Spector was one of them . . . you had to know how he treated people who disagreed with him) is the only way we can be saved from the tax and spenders and most of them are liberal democrats. There are some republicans (not so much in Annapolis but in Washington) that also need to go.
Are you happy with the amount of tax you are paying? I’m not just talking about sales tax. Add it all up: real estate, sales, gas, phone, cable, income, etc., you will be surprised how much you pay in taxes. Granted some of it’s necessary (roads, fire/police, education, military) but there is so much waste, so much political corruption, too much favoritism going on that it’s really time for Marylanders (and US Citizens) to take action. It’s already begun with the TEA Party and I hope it continues.
I may just be more jaded, but I don’t see much of a difference between the two parties. Both of them want to spend absurd amounts of money. The only difference seems to be what they where they want to send that money. Democrats seem to like raising taxes and then raising spending above and beyond the tax increase. That’s not a very intelligent way to run a budget. Republicans seem to want to cut taxes, but ALSO raise spending exponentially. That’s just stupid. It’s like quitting your job and then immediately maxing out your credit cards on non-essential items.
Frankly, if it were up to me, the first thing I would want to see is serious and binding campaign finance reform. It shouldn’t be a given that only millionaires can afford to run for office, and until something happens to change that, we will continue to have politicians from BOTH sides who have no clue what the average citizens want or how their policy decisions (or indecisions) impact the rest of us.
Guys,
Living within one’s means is smart, yet why do so few actually follow this advice? Maryland is in a sad situation, but not as bad as other states are. States with property tax based systems have all suffered greatly during this housing crisis. That said, MD needs to cut spending and raise revenues without crushing the middle class. So, that leaves luxury areas. These are not answers to our problems, but rather suggestions to increase revenues modestly:
How about a surcharge for all pro sporting events tickets, say $5 to $10 per ticket. How about another $10 to $20 fee tacked onto those PSN Licenses that season ticket holders buy. Those who can afford to go to these events will not be stopped by these small fees. What about fee’s tacked onto parking for these events? There are a lot of public services used at these games, ie. police, fire, paramedic, etc… While many of these services are in a standby mode, the employees must still be paid, and often at enhanced wages since pro football events are often on Sundays and evening hours.
What about pleasure boat registrations. There are thousands of sailboats and motorboats in this area that are not commercial fishing vessels. A modest $2 – $5 per foot increase for registration would help.
You get the picture. There are more areas to raise fees, if that is what must be done. Stop hammering away at the working man who is just getting by.
I find it ironic that in times of fiscal austerity, people of all income levels still find a way to pay for cable television.
In lieu of raising fees, we could always just slash across the board funding by 5% and in some other BS areas, perhaps as much as 15%. Of course, we have a select cadre of professional politicians in this state who would fight anything that may upset their pals and special interests.
Rob-I get it that you don’t like “paying taxes”. Its the basic mantra of the TEA party to “starve the beast” since you guys believe that govt is there to take from you and gives you nothing back in return.
@Frankly Speaking
I think your characterization of Rob does a great disservice to many folks who are simply tired of the wasteful governmental spending that goes unchecked on an ongoing basis. He already stated that some taxes are necessary yet you choose to attempt to marginalize his opinion by stating that his opinion is the opposite. The government spends far more than it takes in and insulting tea party supporters won’t change that. Term limits are the only answer to the corruption in D.C. and good luck with getting a bunch of criminals to vote themselves out of office and into a position where they have to work for a living. Politicians suck. All parties. Period. They’ve spent decades setting up things to benefit themselves at the expense of us and we simply accept it and vote them back in. It’s a shame that partisan folks can’t bring themselves to vote the incumbent out in the primaries. That makes them a huge part of the problem.
Do you really believe the crap you spread, or is it simply that you enjoy arguing in exaggerations?
Phil-have you been driking again?
No, I don’t drike [sic].
You’re right Phl, lets just call it my opinion until I’m proven wrong. I’ll clarify that I have yet to see, meet or hear about a politician of any party who I believe does not suck. Better than half the members of Congress are millionaires. Once they get in office their personal wealth continues to blossom (oddly enough)and being elected ONCE insures lifelong benefits that they could easily have afforded on their own. Do you disagree on term limits? Do you deny that even with dismal approval ratings the average partisan American votes for the same loser over and over? D.C. is a pack of lawyers that have perverted the entire system to take care of themselves and they will never enact term limits on themselves.
Amazed – I agree with you, and my comment was directed at Frankly Speaking.
I believe in hard work and providing for the family. Government tends to get in the way of that by making it difficult to buy a home and raising the cost of things. For example, the gang in Annapolis will consider raising the tax on gasoline. Considering the price of gas now, and adding to that, will put a huge burden on middle-class families. When fuel costs go up, so will everything else.
I would like for one of our legislators to intoduce a new bill: Require all current and future politicians to be educated in economics. I also think there should be something of an affirmative action plan put in place. The plan should include a requirement that the Maryland Senate and the house limit the number of trial lawyers and include a reasonable number of business people and those who are homemakers to serve in Annapolis.
Going back to the tax thing; I said in another post that taxes are a necessary evil. We need fire and police service, courts, correctional facilities, DPW (highways), education, etc. But what I do not like is paying taxes for top dollar salaries and benefits to politicians and government administrators who are not that good at their jobs (example, the huge salary raises for Maryland’s PSC members). When was the last time you (anyone here) got a $40,000 raise?
Last, for the past 50-60 years the poor have voted for liberal democrats; yet, they are still poor.
Sorry but many of these people are not worth the money tax payers are paying for their salaries and for the benefits they receive for the rest of their lives.
Rob-right now you can’t hardly find a private lender with private money and private mortgage insurance to help anyone buy a home!!!. If it wasn’t for FHA, VA, RHS loans there would not anyone money to buy home and that may remain in place for a while, since I don’t think we can really trust Wall Street to bring the capital needed to fund mortgages. Gas taxes, I agree should not be increased as their increased cost would choke off any economic growth that our economy really needs. Of course, you would be a proponent of not raising any taxes for any reason, instead just cut taxes and keep on spending.
Amazed-If you took the time to read Rob’s posts you would see that his oppossiton is to paying taxes and the democrats in power as if the republican party is anything different than the democratic party. One taxes and spends and the other cuts taxes but keeps on spending. No one is marginalizing the TEA party because they are pretty good on their own on that front.
Frankly Speaking / Bel Air Fed / Rob in Bel Air / Etc. It’s spelled “Ehrlich”, and he lost by OVER 14% in a national republican “red tide”. So GET OVER IT!
LOL . . . I too will try to deal with the loss. But right now, I need to go to work so I can pay my taxes. I also want a few extra dollars so I can go to Delaware this weekend to do a little gambling and on the way home buy a new computer. Delaware offers a 6% discount on anything you buy in their state.
Yes, Erhlich lost and it is a loss for those Marylanders who actually pay taxes. However, I also know that if he won, Mike Miller and Michael Bush would have done their best to destroy him (and the liberal media would have helped). Michael Bush single handedly cost this state millions of dollars by blocking slots (until they had a democratic governor in place). It’s all about politics and not about Maryland citizens.
For those who think this governor has your best interest at heart, you are very foolish. You might as well open your checkbooks now and write out a check to the MD Comptroller (yet another liberal democrat). It’s came before and it will come again. Maybe next election, Marylanders will not forget like they did at this election.
MaMaMia,
You need not worry as most of us will be going to work to pay our taxes so you will get your monthly check on time.
I don’t know that I’ll ever “get over” Erlich losing, but I’ll try…
To quote Reagan “There you go again”….It’s spelled E”H”rlich!
I’ll just call him “exgovernor”
Folks,
the real issue here is Mary D-James letter (the article) she want to know what she can protect for you. But have you ever heard her say what can be toned down or reduced? Never. She is an O’Malleyite.
Over the years the democrat controlled Maryland legislature has added to and added new discretionary programs. Programs that were created to appeal to a political group to get votes so folks like Ms James could retain their seat. These programs are hard to stop because now they have a constituancy. Yes these programs were legislated but it can (just as easily) be unlegislated. But the two Mike’s won’t let that happen to reduce their kingdom.
I haved never seen a building named after a sitting legislator. What an intimidating in your face show of servitude to those who put these people in office – great testiment to arrogance and a great argument for term limits.
I agree with those who say O’Malley has side stepped the tax issue and will let the 2 Mike’s do it for him so their beloved constitutes can still suck money from the gov’t. Have you seen what his raiding of the transportation fund has done to the local and state road budgets. The gas tax was supposedly walled off for a reason – he broke faith with the tax payers. So with these cuts/transfers it will be easier for those wanting the gas tax raised to dangle a new tax and new promises in front of everyone to feel better about filiing pot holes. See it for what the strategy is. I could go on.