20030209 Carroll County Times editorial: Frank Johnson – “A problem of wearing many hats”

20030209 Carroll County Times editorial: Frank Johnson – “A problem of wearing many hats”

Carroll County Times editorial: Frank Johnson – “A problem of wearing many hats”

Editorial for Feb. 9, 2003
February 09, 2003

A problem of wearing many hats

Mount Airy Town Councilman Frank Johnson has been wearing a lot of different hats lately, but the time has come for him to step back and make some realistic decisions about where he believes he can do the most good.

The councilman was instrumental in rallying support and bringing together a Council of Governments in Carroll at a time when communication between the county office building and Carroll's municipalities was sorely lacking. He remains a vocal advocate and is actively involved as the organization gets up and running.

(Webmaster’s note: The idea that Mr. Johnson “was instrumental in rallying support and bringing together a Council of Governments in Carroll” is not consistent with how many of us remember it. See: 20020822 “Mayors consider an area council” By Mary Gail Hare, Sun Staff)

Johnson also took a job as assistant to County Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge. And while he and others have said there is nothing legally wrong with collecting paychecks from both the Town of Mount Airy and the county, there likely is an ethical issue involved.

That issue is compounded by Johnson's other involvement in Mount Airy, where he serves as zoning administrator and is the council's liaison to the planning commission.

At the very least, Johnson has spread himself too thin to be entirely effective in any one of the positions. And because his many positions span from Mount Airy to Carroll's municipalities to county government, that means the impact is being felt everywhere in the county.

Johnson owes it to the people of Mount Airy, owes it to the towns, cities and organizations that make up the Council of Governments and owes it to taxpayers who pay his salary as Gouge's assistant to step back from some of these responsibilities.

He must assess where he believes he can be most effective, and then concentrate on those areas.

Wanting to help out in as many different ways as possible is an admirable trait, but it does no good if the person is running in so many different directions that it takes away from all of his various jobs and duties.

20030209 Carroll County Times editorial: Frank Johnson – “A problem of wearing many hats”

Labels: People Carroll Co. Johnson – Frank Johnson, People Carroll County

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 1^st, 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.

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