Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label Westminster Finance Bud 1999 2005. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Westminster Finance Bud 1999 2005. Show all posts

Saturday, February 01, 2003

20030201 Maryland Municipal League’s Maryland Mayor’s Association - Mayor’s Press Conference February 1st, 2003

February 1, 2003 Mayor’s Briefing Sheet

Maryland State Budget Municipal Impacts

Maryland Municipal League’s Maryland Mayor’s Association - Mayor’s Press Conference February 1st, 2003

Also see:

20030131 State's mayors brace for state budget cut by Janie Schmidt and Carrie Knauer writing for the Carroll County Times

For more information, click on: Maryland General Assembly Opera, Maryland Municipal League, Westminster City Finance, Maryland State Budget, Taxes Maryland.

[For past posts on “Soundtrack” about the Maryland Municipal League click on: Maryland Municipal League. Disclosure: I served on the Maryland Municipal League Board of Directors annually for five consecutive years, from June 2000 to May 2005.]

The recently released Maryland state budget included cuts in aid to municipal government as the new Ehrlich Administration attempts to address budget deficits exceeding $1 billion. While the budget document touts overall increases in aid to local governments, those increases are largely confined to education and libraries – programs that do not affect Maryland’s incorporated cities and towns.

Provisions of the FY 2004 state budget with potential negative impacts on municipal government include proposals to:

Withhold from local governments $102.4 million in Highway User Revenues. Cost to municipal governments in FY 2004 is $12,267,074 according to an analysis prepared last week by the Maryland Department of Legislative Services

Withhold $10 million in circuit breaker tax credit reimbursement payments to local governments to help pay for administrative costs of the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Municipal impacts could approach $0.5 million.

Transfer to the state's general fund $29.9 million dollars from the local share of Program Open Space (POS) revenues. This represents a 48% reduction from the FY 02-03 program fund total. Total municipal losses will vary depending on what projects were planned for the coming year. However, an estimated 50% reduction to municipalities is likely in FY 2004.

Transfer to the state's general fund $8 million in the current fiscal year and $10 million in FY 2004 from the Waterway Improvement Program. Municipal impacts could approach $2.0 million.

Eliminate the Department of Natural Resources Community Parks and Playgrounds grant program. Since its inception two years ago, the program has provided around $11 million to local governments, with approximately 60% or $3.2 million of the funds going to municipalities in FY 2003 and 91% or $4.3 million in FY 2002.

Municipalities stand to receive additional funding through the following programs, which received more money in the Governor’s proposed FY 04 budget:

Increase to $8.7 million funding for the Community Legacy Program. Program funding has been $13 million and $6.5 million in each of the past two years. Municipalities received 76% or $10.7 million of these funds in FY 2002 and 83% or $2.3 million of available funds allocated thus far have been awarded to municipalities in FY 2003.

Increase by over $22 million, funding for the Maryland Water Quality Revolving Loan Fund and the Maryland Drinking Water Revolving Loan Program. Municipalities received $127 million or 32% of the available Water Quality Revolving Loan Fund monies from FY 2000 through FY 2003. Of the funding allocated from the Maryland Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund from FY 00 through FY 03, 75% or $15 million of the monies went to municipalities. State estimates put the total funds needed to rehabilitate aging wastewater treatment plants over the next twenty years to be $4 billion.

20030129

Friday, January 31, 2003

20030131 State's mayors brace for state budget cut by Janie Schmidt and Carrie Knauer writing for the Carroll County Times

State's mayors brace for state budget cut

By Jamie Schmidt, Times Staff Writer, January 31, 2003

For companion information click on: Maryland Municipal League’s Maryland Mayor’s Association - Mayor’s Press Conference February 1st, 2003

For more information, click on: Maryland General Assembly Opera, Maryland Municipal League, Westminster City Finance, Maryland State Budget, Taxes Maryland.

_____

As the governor works to address a budget deficit, Maryland's mayors prepare for how their own communities will be impacted.

According to the Maryland Municipal League, provisions of the FY 2004 state budget includes a proposal to withhold $102.4 million in highway user revenues - funds distributed to municipalities for road maintenance and repair. This breaks down to a cut of $264,894 in Westminster, $111,710 in Mount Airy - including Frederick, $82,727 in Taneytown, $68,750 in Hampstead, $61,848 in Sykesville, $60,152 in Manchester, $24,355 in New Windsor, and $23,214 in Union Bridge.

"That would have quite an impact," said Westminster Mayor Kevin Dayhoff. "The two major areas of concern for Westminster are infrastructure and economic development. This is a major hit."

He wanted to be sure that the pain of the deficit would be shared as evenly as possible, he said as he prepared to attend the ninth annual Maryland mayor's conference.

"We [mayors] need to provide Ehrlich/Steele with alternative approaches," he said.

Hampstead Mayor Chris Nevin was also shocked when he heard about the proposed cuts.

"Ouch. ... Off the top, I'd say we're going to have to do less road work next year," he said.

Nevin said the $68,750 decrease was equal to 29 percent of the town's budget for road maintenance.

Jim Holt, Mount Airy mayor, said that he was hoping the town wouldn't lose as much as was proposed.

Mount Airy is expecting to get its budget reviews in shortly, at which point they'll get a better idea the damage of $111,710 will reap.

Taneytown Mayor Henry C. Heine said that he is worried about the possible loss of Program Open Space money, another proposed reduction. Program Open Space is a nationally recognized program that provides dedicated funds to help conserve Maryland's conservation areas, state and local parks.

The state is proposing to transfer $29.9 million from the local share of Program Open Space revenues to its general fund. Total municipal losses will vary depending on what projects were planned for the coming year.

"We had a project to purchase some land just outside the city to leave as open space," Heine said, adding that this plan may be put on hold. "I guess we are certainly in for a tight budget this year. Municipalities are always on the low end of the food chain."

Heine added that the cuts would also impact plans to create a mini-bypass to alleviate truck traffic through the city. The city had been planning to connect Md. 140 to Md. 194 for some time, but he said that project, too, would suffer a setback.

Union Bridge Mayor Bret Grossnickle said he had big plans for road repairs.

"The highway money, we need that," he said. "I have a problem with them taking that - it isn't fair. We have Locust Street that was severely damaged during the Lehigh upgrade with all the cement trucks that tore up the streets. It will cost $300,000 to repair that one street."

Sykesville Mayor Jonathan Herman said that the town knew that cuts were coming, but that he was most concerned that the town still get a new intersection at the Warfield complex - an intersection that he sees as a future gateway into town.

"We have always realized that state and federal revenues come and go." he said. "You know, nobody wants to raise taxes. You hear all these wonderful things about tax cuts. Republicans are great for saying we're not raising taxes but we are going to get programs cut and fees implemented in lieu of taxes. They will call them contributions, other things, but no matter how you look at it, someone is going to be paying for these things. That's just the way it is."

Other provisions of the budget include withholding $10 million in circuit breaker tax credit reimbursement payments to local governments to help pay for administrative costs of the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Another is transferring to the state's general fund $8 million in the current fiscal year and $10 million next year from the Waterway Improvement Program. Also, the state proposes to eliminate the Community Parks and Playground grant program.

On the positive side, municipalities stand to receive additional funding for the Community Legacy Program and the Maryland Water Quality Revolving Loan Fund and Maryland Drinking Water Revolving Loan Program. The breakdown for each municipality was unavailable.

New Windsor Mayor Sam Pierce could not be reached Thursday.

Reach staff writers Jamie Schmidt at 410-857-7876.

Staff writer Carrie Ann Knauer contributed to this article

Friday, December 27, 2002

20021226 City seeks bids for collection of trash

City seeks bids for collection of trash

Waste removal is $900,000 of $21.9 million budget; Firms have until Jan. 28 to apply

Baltimore Sun

December 26, 2002

The city of Westminster is looking for someone to take out the garbage - for at least three years.

The city is putting out to bid a contract that ranks in the top 10 of municipal expenses: solid waste and recycling.

"It's one of the city's biggest ongoing costs," said Thomas B. Beyard, director of public works and planning. "We'll hopefully find something comparable to what we have now."

In the city's $21.9 million budget, sanitation and waste removal takes up nearly $900,000, the third-highest expenditure in the public works department behind streets and recreation and parks.

Companies that want to bid on the city's contract - worth at least $1.5 million for three years starting next summer, said Beyard - may pick up packages at City Hall and submit proposals until Jan. 28.

York Waste Disposal has collected the city's trash - 375 tons of garbage and 150 tons of recyclables a month - since 1998. At that time, the company collected from 4,177 houses and city buildings, Beyard said. Each house generates about 1.48 tons of waste a year, Beyard said.

Trash is picked up once a week at each location, but York's trucks navigate Westminster five days a week to hit all the spots. The city's planning and public works department picks up furniture and yard waste by appointment only.

Residents living outside municipalities have to contract directly with trash collectors and pay on average $200 a year, about double the average paid by Westminster homeowners, Beyard said.

"We get a volume discount," he said. "It's actually a good bargain for people."

A house in Westminster valued at $100,000 has a yearly property tax bill of about $400. The city allots about a quarter of that to take care of garbage collection. The trash is taken to a landfill in Pennsylvania.

At the beginning of this year, 4,373 houses and city buildings were using the city for trash collection. Beyard expects that number to rise above 4,500 by summer.

Bidders should submit a bid that covers each year through June 2008, when the city estimates nearly 5,000 buildings will be on trash pickup routes. The city asks that bidders submit two proposals: one for three years and one for five.

The Baltimore Sun http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/carroll/bal-ca.trash26dec26,0,3981793.story?coll=bal%2Dlocal%2Dcarroll

Westminster Public Works Solid Waste Management

Westminster City Finance

Monday, July 01, 2002

20020701 to 2003 SDOSM Westminster City Budget Summary

20020701-2003 Westminster City Budget Summary

INCOME

TOTAL

GENERAL FUND

SEWER FUND

WATER FUND

Taxes - Local - Property

4,150,000

4,150,000



Taxes - Local - Income

1,200,000

1,200,000



Taxes - Local - Other

260,000

260,000



License & Permits

297,300

297,300



Revenue from other Agencies






Federal Grants &/or State Grants







Police Protection

390,000

390,000





Highway User revenue

800,000

800,000





Other

702,467

702,467




Carrol County Grants







Shared Revenue

622,429

622,429





Roads/Other

13,460

13,460





Financial Corporations

8,516

8,516



Fines & Forfeitures

64,000

64,000



Service Charges for Current Services

5,065,993

506,100

2,351,748

2,208,145








Miscellaneous







Interest Income

194,000

130,000

32,000

32,000



Benefit Assessments

2,911,083

197,900

1,286,500

1,426,683



Carrol County Septage Facility

310,000


310,000




Other - Parking Fees

4,400

4,400





Other

2,801,188

2,658,688

25,500

117,000

Prior Years Surplus or Allocations

864,566

864,566



Unfunded Deprication

12,666,000


834,000

432,000






TOTALS

21,925,402

12,869,826

4,839,748

4,215,828

EXPENDITURES

TOTAL

GENERAL FUND

SEWER FUND

WATER FUND

General Government







Legislative

28,908

28,908





Executive

41,433

41,433





Elections

4,745

4,745





Financial Administration

167,774

167,774





Law

57,500

57,500





Planning & Zoning

262,326

262,326





General Services

265,176

265,176





Other

431,192

431,192



Public Safety







Police Department

2,869,171

2,869,171





Fire Department

185,000

185,000





Other

49,995

49,995



Public Works







Streets, Highways and Alleys

3,951,028

3,951,028





Sanitation & Waste Removal

872,526

872,526





Recreation & Parks

1,463,431

1,463,431





Other - Autos, Trucks & Equip

257,338

257,338



CDBG

69,162

69,162



Pension, Insurances, Etc.

1,893,121

1,893,121



Water/Sewer System Operation:







Source of Supply

313,200



313,200



Treatment, etc.

1,472,900


943,200

529,700



Transmission & Distribution

614,800


278,300

336,500



Customer Account

98,008


49,004

49,004



Administrative & General

1,737,895


836,101

901,794



Bond/Loan/MWQFA Loan Interest

107,784


50,392

57,392



Amoritization Bond Issue Expense

4,704


2,459

2,245



Deprecation

1,266,000


834,000

432,000



Bond Principle Redemption

296,785


151,292

145,493



Carrol County Septage Facility

185,000


185,000




Capital Items (machinery, Equip., Etc.)

2,930,500


1,504,000

1,426,500



Other

28,000


6,000

22,000








TOTALS

21,925,402

12,869,826

4,839,748

4,215,828