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

20020620 New EPA Reports Confirm Waste-to-Energy's Clean Performance

New EPA Reports Confirm Waste-to-Energy's Clean Performance

http://www.nmwda.org/index.asp

Washington, D.C. (June 20, 2002) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today released data confirming greater than 90% reductions in organic, metal, and acid gas emissions from waste-to-energy facilities nationwide as a result of the industry's compliance with the Clean Air Act standards.

"EPA's new emissions inventory is proof that the Clean Air Act results in significant environmental benefits for industry and the public it serves," said Maria Zannes, President of the Integrated Waste Services Association (IWSA), a national trade group representing the waste-to-energy industry and municipalities served by the technology.

The emissions inventory and accompanying reports released today by U.S. EPA are based on actual compliance test data of the nation's 66 large-unit waste-to-energy plants following a $1 billion upgrade in pollution control technology required by federal "Maximum Achievable Control Technology" (MACT) air standards promulgated in 1995 for large unit municipal waste combustors.

"America's cities that look to waste-to-energy as a solution to garbage disposal have done a tremendous job working with the U.S. EPA and industry to bring about this environmental success," said Zannes. "The reports show that waste-to-energy plants that generate electricity from trash represent one of the cleanest sources of power and safest methods of waste disposal in this country. The reports also show that modern pollution control equipment works very well to keep emissions very low."

More than 30 million people in 24 states rely upon 66 large-unit waste-to-energy plants that convert nearly 80,000 tons of trash each day into enough power to meet the needs of 2 million homes. Waste-to-energy technology results in avoiding the release of 11 million metric tons of greenhouse gases each year into the air, according to a new study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that will be published this summer in Air & Waste Management magazine.

The EPA reports show that dioxin emissions from waste-to-energy facilities dropped by more than 99%; lead emissions by 91%; mercury emissions by 95%; particulate matter emissions by 90%; hydrogen chloride emissions by 94%; cadmium emissions by 93%; sulfur dioxide emissions by 87%; and emissions of nitrogen oxides decreased by 18% due to retrofitting the industry with the most modern pollution control technology. Mercury emissions nationwide represent less than three percent of the national inventory of man-made mercury emissions, and dioxin emissions from waste-to-energy facilities represent less than one percent of the nation's inventory of dioxin sources.

Communities with waste-to-energy plants recycle at a rate of 33% as compared with the national average of 28%. Waste-to-energy facilities in the U.S. annually recover for recycling nearly 800,000 tons of ferrous metals and more than 900,000 tons of glass, metal, plastics, batteries, ash and yard waste.

Waste-to-energy reduces trash volume by about 90%, resulting in a 90% decrease in the amount of land required for garbage disposal. Studies of ash landfill conducted by government agencies and universities over the past decade show that leachate is like salty water, with a metals content that would meet drinking water standards.

To Visit the Integrated Waste Services Association (IWSA)
click on: http://www.wte.org

20020517 Bad Times Supervirus Warning Alert Caution and Advisory

Bad Times Supervirus Warning Alert Caution and Advisory

May 17^th, 2002

If you receive an e-mail entitled “Bad times”, delete it IMMEDIATELY. Do not open it. Apparently this one is pretty nasty.

It will not only erase everything on your hard drive, but it will also delete anything on disks within 20 feet of your computer.

It demagnetizes the strips on ALL of your credit cards. It reprograms your ATM access code, screws up the tracking on your VCR and uses subspace field harmonics to scratch any CD’s you attempt to play.

It will program your phone auto-dial to call only 900 numbers. This virus will mix antifreeze into your fish tank.

IT WILL CAUSE YOUR TOILET TO FLUSH WHILE YOU ARE SHOWERING.

It will drink ALL your beer. FOR GOD’S SAKE, ARE YOU LISTENING??

It will leave dirty underwear on the coffee table when you are expecting company. It will replace your shampoo with Nair and your Nair with Rogaine, all the while dating your current boy/girlfriend behind your back and billing their hotel rendezvous to your Visa card.

It will cause you to run with scissors and throw things in a way that is only fun until someone loses an eye.

It will rewrite your backup files, changing all your active verbs to passive tense and incorporating undetectable misspellings, which grossly change the interpretations of key sentences.

If the “Bad times” message opened in a Windows 95/98 environment, it will leave the toilet seat up and leave your hair dryer plugged in dangerously close to a full bathtub.

It will not only remove the forbidden tags from your mattresses and pillows. It will also refill your skim milk with whole milk.

******* WARN AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN. *******

And if you don’t send this to 5000 people in 20 seconds you’ll fart so hard that your right leg will spasm and shoot straight out in front of you, sending sparks that will ignite the person nearest you.

Send to everyone...

In case you are a blonde, this is a joke.

Rec’d 200205

20020514 Getty won’t seek reelection

Getty won't seek reelection
by Lauren King Carroll County Times

May 14, 2002

Del. Joseph M. Getty, R-Carroll, announced Monday that he would not run for re-election in an effort to honor the two-term limit promise he made during the last election.

Getty did say that he would like to run for state Senate some day, but not against Sen. Larry E. Haines, R-Carroll.

"I've waited to see how things were lining up as far as Larry Haines' decision," Getty said. "I really want to honor the term-limit pledge that I made, and it seemed like this was the right time to announce it."

He said that if Haines changes his mind about running for state Senate, he would run for the seat.

But for now, Getty said he wouldn't be dropping out of the political scene. He said that he plans to help with U.S. Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich's campaign for governor, and his petition against the governor's legislative redistricting plan is still going through the Maryland Court of Appeals process.

Getty said that he would not reconsider his decision about the House of Delegates even if the legislative redistricting plan were amended to give Carroll a district completely within the county. The current plan would pit the three Carroll delegates - Getty and Dels. Carmen Amedori and Nancy R. Stocksdale - against each other for two seats.

Under the governor's plan, Carroll's Fifth District will be shared with a portion of western Baltimore County, where Republican Del. A. Wade Kach is the current incumbent.

20020514 Baltimore Sun: Westminster council OKs 03 budget

Westminster council OKs ’03 budget

The $21.9 million plan includes city's first tax increase in five years

May 14, 2002

The Westminster Common Council adopted last night a $21.9 million budget for fiscal 2003 that includes the city's first tax increase in five years - 4.8 cents - and $2.5 million for the long-awaited Longwell parking garage.

"When you take the [Longwell] garage out, there's been very little real growth in our budget, only $100,000 over last year's" budget, said Councilman L. Gregory Pecoraro, finance committee chairman.

The city's budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, includes money for day-to-day operations, its building program and water and sewer funds. No changes were made in water and sewer rates.

4.8-cent tax increase

The property tax will increase 4.8 cents to 40 cents per $100 of assessed value.

That means the owner of a home with an assessed value of $125,000 will pay $500 in property taxes next year, instead of $440, officials said.

When work on the budget began in April, city officials faced a $2.1 million difference in spending and revenue. The council trimmed $1.6 million from the spending plan in a work session. The tax increase will generate about $500,000 in additional revenue, officials said.

The additional revenue will cover $300,000 in road repairs on Royer Road. About $75,000 is designated for new salting equipment, improvements to the tot lot at Kings Park and a new position in the Fire Department.

The budget calls for a 1 percent cost-of-living raise for city employees.

In addition, the city will reserve $125,000 for a pension enhancement plan for Westminster Police Department. The city and the 43-member police department have yet to agree on a plan.

Council President Damian L. Halstad said the council is on the verge of scrapping the existing plan and devising an alternative more agreeable to the department.

Other business

In other business last night, the council:

Introduced a revised special capital benefit assessment fee that calls for commercial and residential developers to pay about $1,000 more to help cover the costs of expanding services.

Canceled its meeting May 27 for the Memorial Day holiday.

20020514 Baltimore Sun: Westminster council OKs 03 budget