Legislative Forum Discusses Painful Cuts for Budget Process

An otherwise routine meeting was packed with residents, spilling out into the hall of the Mid-County Center, for a legislative forum attended by three County Council members.

Council President Valerie Ervin and Councilmembers Nancy Floreen and Marc Elrich answered questions after a presentation by the Office of Legislative Oversight. The OLO, on the council’s request, prepared a presentation about options for balancing the county’s budget. Karen Orlansky, from the office, pointed out that the choices presented were in fact options and not recommendations, although she and others slipped back into calling them "recommendations" later on.

(Tuesday evening's presentation was based on a longer report created by the office. Both parts are available above in the media box of this article.)

The OLO presentation outlined the basic problem: even if existing services and personnel costs were frozen, costs of running the county government over the next few years would continue to increase, largely as a result of debt services and pensions. While the existing budget gap in FY12 budget , the presentation focused on structural problems the OLO foresees if actual revenue does not increase.

Citing that 88 percent of tax-supported operating budgets are made up of salaries and benefits, many of the options presented dealt with salary and benefit cuts. 

Some options from OLO, although not an exhaustive listing of their complete report:

• A salary rollback for county employees in FY12.
• Change cost-share for health benefits to 70 percent county paid, 30 percent employee paid. Currently, county employees have different levels of cost sharing across agencies, but all have a higher rate of county sharing than 70/30.
• Replace defined benefit retirement plans, like pensions, with contribution plans, like 401Ks.

Residents at the meeting, however, wanted a better sense from the council members about what cuts they will be voting for after the County Executive delivers his recommendation for FY12 on March 15, 2011.

One resident and a teacher said she’d rather the council raise the property tax rate, than teachers and support staff face salary reductions and county services be cut. Her suggestion received a large round of applause from the room. The council, however, would need an unanimous vote to raise the rate past the maximum allowed by the county charter.

Responding to an earlier, similar comment, Marc Elrich responded that he didn’t think there’s was a surplus of teachers, aids or bus drivers in the school system.

“Do I think there’s a surplus in the school administration, in the county government? Absolutely.” he said.

Valerie Ervin, who herself was a Board of Education member and currently serves on the Education Committee warned that those affected by the budget cuts should “be careful about pitting employee group against employee group. A lot of administration isn’t at Carver [Educational Services Center]." Ervin said. "You can fire everybody at Carver, but that’s not going to get you far.”

Ervin also reiterated that control of MCPS' budget specifics was in the hands of the Board of Education once the county recommended a figure.