Rainy Day Fund

Like the charcoal briquettes in your backyard barbecue that stubbornly refuse to catch fire, the Maryland governor's race hasn't generated much heat yet. Citizens need to push the two top contenders to speak up now about where they stand on the race's key issue - how to fund the next few years' state budgets. Democratic contender Kathleen Kennedy Townsend got the ball rolling Tuesday when she said that to deal with the state's budget woes, she would freeze spending at current levels for one year, except for education and crime-prevention efforts.

In his column this past Sunday, Peter Decoursey of the Harrisburg Patriot-News makes the point that while Senate Republicans and the Democratic governor have both prevented the other side from winning a struggle over taxes, all have ignored both parties' 2002 promise to cut property taxes. Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell was elected governor following a legislative session in which the Republican majority borrowed from every possible source - including the state's Rainy Day fund - to avoid raising taxes during an election year.

Sometimes even if you don't deserve it, you get lucky anyway. That's apparently what has happened to the members of the Maryland General Assembly and the administration of Gov. Robert Ehrlich. Despite a lack of agreement over slot machines and other revenue-enhancing measures, the state's elected officials have managed to gather $400 million in uncommitted funds that they can use to ensure smooth sailing during the 2006 session. That amount is over and above what is a required for the state's "rainy day" fund and according to The Associated Press, it happened not because of any grand strategy, but because the economy improved and citizens kept on playing the lottery.

charlestown@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - It was a day of riches at the Berkeley County Commission meeting Thursday. The three commissioners sat down to determine what to do with a $3 million surplus discovered in last year's budget. "This is the best thing that has happened to Berkeley County since electricity," said commission member Ronald K. Collins. Commission member Howard Strauss wanted to put the money in a fund and use it to reduce tax bills for county residents next year.

ANNAPOLIS - A Democratically ruled Maryland House preliminarily approved a $30 billion state budget Wednesday, squelching a Republican attempt to limit spending and delay additional school funding. On the current course, Marylanders should "brace themselves for a massive tax increase next year," Del. Christopher B. Shank, R-Washington, said on the House floor, citing a projected $1.5 billion deficit. Democrats argued that the Republican proposal would critically hurt funding in several crucial areas.

Do you want any side dishes with that? In effect, that's what Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell will say today when he makes his first budget address to a joint session of the Legislature. His bare-bones budget will give lawmakers a look at what will be cut if they don't find some new revenue. The Democratic governor is anticipating Republican finger-pointing if he talks about a tax increase, but in fairness, his Republican predecessor left him with little maneuvering room. The state's Rainy Day Fund was cut in half to avoid an election-year tax increase, leaving Rendell with a cupboard that's almost bare, fiscally speaking.

State's budget woes must not derail downtown UM campus Maryland legislative leaders, faced with a governor who has near-total control over state finances, this week said that Parris Glendening has sent them the toughest budget they've ever faced. Lawmakers who were unwilling to curb the governor's sweeping authority last year should look at some more limited proposals to keep the state solvent. The governor's $22 billion budget began with a $1 billion gap between revenues and expenditures.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to transfer $100 million from a fund dedicated for building roads and bridges is drawing strong backlash, but some lawmakers say the rhetoric is unfounded. In recent weeks, Republican leaders have taken turns blasting O'Malley for "raiding" the Transportation Trust Fund to help balance the state's budget. It's a term that's even crossed party lines, as Senate Majority Leader Rob Garagiola has occasionally used it to describe transfers from the transportation fund.

At a time when many political pundits are giving the 2007 session of the General Assembly a passing grade, I want to offer the more appropriate grade - an incomplete. What else can you say about Gov. Martin O'Malley and the Democrat majority that pushed through a $30 billion budget without the money to pay for it? They irresponsibly raided more than $800 million from the surplus that Gov. Bob Ehrlich built up in the Rainy Day Fund, leaving next to nothing for the future. And there is still going to be a more than a $1 billion budget gap. Watch your wallet, you know what's coming next!

Washington County's legislative wishes listed Following is a list of items the Washington County Commissioners may place on the wish list they'll present to the local delegation to the Maryland General Assembly for the 2001 session: -- Get state authority to impose a county transfer tax, which would piggyback onto the state transfer tax. The county considered imposing the tax this year but realized it didn't have the needed state authority....