State cuts sting Calvert towns

Friday, Sept. 11, 2009

Last week, the Board of Public Works announced $454 million in cuts to the state budget, and Maryland's municipalities will feel the pinch.

Officials have few places to turn to recoup the lost funding or generate new dollars.

"In the media reports we've seen, there's a tendency to concentrate on counties," said James P. Peck, director of research for the Maryland Municipal League, which advocates on behalf of town governments. "There's 157 municipalities out there that are feeling the pinch, too. Many of them provide a broad range of services that people are going to see cut or reduced in some fashion."

The chief casualty is money for highway maintenance and local road projects. Just like county governments, municipalities saw 90 percent of highway user fund revenues slashed.

That amounts to a $32.8 million reduction statewide, not including Baltimore city, which only sustained a $31.6 million cut because it is responsible for maintaining all highway infrastructure — both local and state roads — within its borders, including the heavily traveled Jones Falls Expressway.

The other 156 municipalities are left with a combined $3.6 million for local road upkeep in fiscal 2010.

Hampstead, which maintains about 21 miles of roads, will have less than $25,000, "probably enough to fill a couple potholes," said Mayor Haven N. Shoemaker Jr.

Bowie, which has several hundred miles of road within its boundaries, is left with just $231,564 after sustaining a $2.1 million hit. Mayor G. Frederick Robinson said that's a huge blow for a town that resurfaces 10 percent of its roads each year.

"We will have to find a way to make due," he said.

But Robinson is more troubled by the loss of $65,000 in aid for the town's expanding police force, which has nearly four dozen officers but may have to delay any growth until the budget picture improves.

The reduction in state aid to priority programs is a precarious balancing act that Robinson compared to the popular stacking game Jenga.

"If you pull something out, the structure is still going to stand, but it's going to start to wobble a little bit," he said. "If you pull the wrong [piece] out, it's going to collapse."

Smaller municipalities feel the pain just as much or more than their larger counterparts, said North Beach Mayor Michael Bojokles.

Although the numbers may be less imposing — his town will lose nearly $120,000 from the recent cuts — it takes a big bite out of modest operating budgets.

Bojokles anticipates North Beach will largely be able to weather the storm, thanks to conservative spending, revenue projections and the town's decision to maintain the constant yield property tax rate over the objections of residents.

"That's going to cushion us from this blow to the highway user [funds]," he said.

Overall, North Beach has only $12,481 left in highway user revenues for fiscal 2010. Its neighbor, Chesapeake Beach, lost nearly $314,000 in that fund and has roughly $35,000 remaining for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2010.

Bojokles acknowledged likely having to put off local road upgrades, but said other drastic actions, such as laying off or furloughing town employees are not under consideration.

"We're in good shape," he said. "We're trying to get citizens to understand that these are tough economic times, but we're trying to build in some of these safeguards and I think we have done that this year."

However, if revenues keep declining and property tax assessments fall off in 2011, "then we're in trouble," he said.

Chesapeake Beach Mayor Bruce Wahl is just as troubled by the nearly $16,000 cut in police aid as the reduction in highway user revenues. Both beach communities participate in the resident deputy program, in which the towns pay for police patrol from the Calvert County Sheriff's Office.

"We can defer on road repairs for a year because we didn't receive the highway user funds, but we cannot defer paying for police protection," he said.

None of the town's roads are in dire need of repair and those scheduled for upgrades can be deferred until next year, he said.

Wahl said he understands that Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) had to make several difficult decisions on where to reduce spending as revenues have plummeted.

"I'm glad I don't have the problems that the governor does," he said. "They have had to overcome some incredible shortfalls of revenues. This is very difficult for us to take because it's a big hit on a small town, but it's tough all over."

In Hampstead, Shoemaker said he is annoyed that state and national leaders are not sufficiently addressing their fiscal problems and are simply passing the buck.

And last week, Shoemaker issued his first executive order in six years as mayor to raise the Gadsden flag in place of the municipal flag outside town hall to protest the budget cuts.

"I thought it was time for us to wage our own community protest," said the mayor, who is Republican but does not serve in a partisan capacity.

The Gadsden flag, which has become a popular symbol of dissent in the grass-roots tea party movement, features a coiled rattlesnake and the phrase "Don't Tread On Me."

"We feel in Hampstead that we're being stepped on," said Shoemaker, noting that the flag probably will continue to fly for about a month.

abrody@somdnews.com