Council Tilts in Favor of Renovating Mount Hebron High

It appears that a $57.3 million renovation of Mount Hebron High School has the support of the County Council, even though some Mount Hebron teachers and staff want the facility to be replaced.

In a straw vote taken during a budget work session Friday, four of five council members said they favored funding the first year of the school's renovation in the fiscal 2009 county budget. The remainder would be provided the following budget year, with construction taking three years.

Council member Jen Terrasa (D-Southeast County), who abstained, said Monday that she probably would make the council's support unanimous.

"The reality is we don't have the funds to replace the school," Terrasa said. School system officials say replacing Mount Hebron, which opened in 1965, would cost at least $80 million.

School system officials told council members that rebuilding wouldn't offer significant savings in energy efficiency or operations and maintenance.

But Mark Cates, a veteran social studies teacher at the school, disputed those findings. He said Aberdeen High School in Harford County was replaced for $42.9 million.

Cates said parents and school staff members who want a new school will lobby the County Council and County Executive Ken Ulman (D), with the council expected to adopt the budget next Thursday.

"We need them to reconsider," he said. "We're going to do what's necessary to convince them it's a bad move."

Trash Proposals Are Debated

Proposals to raise the county trash fee per household and buy new recycling bins prompted dissension among County Council members during recent budget deliberations.

Council Chairman Courtney Watson (D-Northeast County) and Greg Fox (R-Western County) have been critical of the $50-a-year increase per household sought by County Executive Ken Ulman (D) to make the trash collection operation self-supporting, rather than drawing on general fund revenue. The increase would be $35 a year for households in the county's rural west. Ulman also wants to spend $3 million to purchase large wheeled bins to increase recycling.

"In my opinion, this is not the time to be increasing fees because of the economy," Watson said. She said the bin purchase could be postponed in favor of an education campaign to raise awareness about recycling.

But council Democrats Calvin Ball (East Columbia), Jen Terrasa (Southeast County) and Mary Kay Sigaty (West Columbia) seemed receptive to the increase and bin purchase.