Md. Lawmakers Sharpen Pencils For Ehrlich Budget

Ehrlich's press secretary, Henry Fawell, said there's nothing wrong with a little "give and take" in the budget process.

"This is a two-party government now," he said, "which is a healthy and productive development."

The way the Democrats see it, the blueprint for renovating and building new public schools currently favors rural counties that make up the governor's voting base over projects in larger, traditionally liberal jurisdictions, such as Prince George's and Montgomery.

The state's school construction program is overseen by a five-member committee made up of two Ehrlich appointees, two members appointed by legislative leaders and State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick, who is chosen by the State Board of Education, whose members Ehrlich selects.

Fawell said the governor and his budget writers had no role in selecting individual projects. But Democrats see disparities. Students in Allegany County, for instance, make up 1.1 percent of statewide school enrollment. The school system received almost 5 percent of the money, in part to help build the county's first new high school in decades. In Prince George's, students account for 15 percent of statewide enrollment, and the school district received 9.8 percent of the money.

"The dollars should go where the kids are," said Sen. P.J. Hogan (D-Montgomery), vice chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee. "We're going to try to correct the governor's error."

To boost overall spending for school construction to $281 million, the Ehrlich administration said it had to delay other projects. Left out of the capital budget for fiscal 2007 was money to build and renovate courthouses, including a $57 million project in Rockville that was delayed two years.

"We were very, very surprised," said Ben C. Clyburn, chief judge of the District Court of Maryland. "I had no indication whatsoever that there was a problem."

Clyburn has been walking the halls of the State House the past two weeks, making the case that delaying the three courthouse projects this year will cost $6.7 million and push back other planned projects throughout the state.

"I understand the governor's priorities are education and prisons," he said, "but you need courthouses first, before you get to prisons."

Beyond public schools and courthouses, Miller and Busch said they want to protect projects at the College Park campus that the governor's budget delayed. The university has raised millions in private donations to match state dollars for a $6 million addition to the business school's Van Munching Hall. The project is not in the budget.

In coming weeks, lawmakers will decide how to make room for projects the governor left out, rearrange the order in which other buildings are funded and consider changing the way the state pays for some construction.

Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer (D-Baltimore County), chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the capital budget, said lawmakers would not use "a blowing-up-the-budget approach."

"We may pay for it in a different way, but we're not trying to sabotage anything the governor wants to do," he said.

Under one option mapped out in an analysis by the Department of Legislative Services, the state could issue short-term bonds to save millions in debt payments in the long term. But paying off state debt sooner would mean leaving the state property tax rate at 13 cents for each $100 of assessed value, according to the analysis.

The state Board of Public Works, a three-member panel that issues bonds, would then be confronted with a choice: endorse short-term borrowing or reduce the property tax by 2 cents. Last year, the board rejected the governor's attempt to lower the state rate by 1 cent.

Whatever the legislature decides, it must act quickly. The governor has line-item veto authority to delete items from the capital budget. If the legislature intends to try to override any of his decisions, it must send him a spending plan by March 31.