Democrats' Edit of Governor's Plan Will Target Public Construction Funds
By Ann E. Marimow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 5, 2006
Democratic leaders in the General Assembly are quietly preparing a major rewrite of Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s capital budget, exerting legislative power at a new level and setting up a debate over how to spend state dollars for the construction of public schools, courthouses and university buildings.
Maryland's governor has the strongest budget powers in the nation to craft annual spending plans for day-to-day operations. But lawmakers have considerable latitude to divvy up money for capital projects -- and they plan to exercise that authority this session.
"We're not chopped liver; we're not potted plants. We have a role to play," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert).
What's in and what's out of the capital budget has yet to be determined. But Miller, House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) and other leading budget writers sketched out a rough picture last week of what they might change.
The University of Maryland's College Park campus would likely benefit, as would school construction budgets for larger counties, such as Montgomery and Prince George's, and a courthouse project in Rockville.
What's more, lawmakers could recommend paying for more projects with short-term borrowing, a move that could imperil Ehrlich's effort to cut 2 cents off the state's property tax rate.
The planned shake-up of the capital budget underscores the evolving relationship between the Democrat-controlled General Assembly and the first Republican governor in a generation, who is running for reelection this year.
When a Democrat occupied the governor's office on the second floor of the State House, legislative leaders and the chief executive often negotiated ahead of time to take care of each other's pet projects. But Ehrlich's election in 2002 upended the balance of power.
"What the Democrats are saying is, 'This guy isn't talking to us at all. He's just giving us a budget,' " said Donald F. Norris, a professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. "Their way of flexing their muscle is to play hardball on the capital budget."
Two years ago, the General Assembly tried unsuccessfully to pass legislation that would strip the governor of his unique budget edge. In the operating budget, lawmakers can make cuts, but they are restricted from adding money or moving it among programs.
Last year, lawmakers grabbed greater control over public school construction projects, adding $80 million to the pot and unilaterally determining how to split it up.
Sen. David R. Brinkley (R-Frederick), a member of the budget committee, said talk of reconstructing the capital budget is another example of a "Democratic legislature that has to learn how to power-share," he said. "It doesn't look like that's happened."
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.
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