Baltimore County lawmakers will likely pass County Executive Jim Smith?s proposed $2.53 billion budget largely intact after agreeing to shave just $1.6 million during deliberations Thursday.
The County Council will require several agencies to delay filling vacancies, generating about $1.25 million in savings for fiscal 2008, which begins July 1. About $1 million of that was forced upon the public school systems, but officials said the cut represents a fraction of 1 percent of its $731 million operating budget.
Fire Chief Fred Hohman successfully persuaded lawmakers not to make a similar cut to his personnel budget, which he described as potentially “devastating.”
“If you cut this, probably sometime in November or December, we will be projecting a deficit and have to cut services,” Hohman said during a budget hearing earlier this week. “I don?t want to have to do that.”
The council agreed not to cut Smith?s $703 million capital budget after briefly debating cutting $2 million for the Board of Education to study a new high school in the Loch Raven area. Third district Councilman Bryan McIntire, the council?s lone Republican, said other schools in the area are under capacity and that a new one isn?t justified.
“If weapprove it, it at least gives the board an opportunity to discuss it,” said Councilman Vince Gardina, D-District 5. “We?re not approving it, we?re just letting the board study it.”
Smith?s spending plan is an 5.8 percent increase from this year?s operating budget, a more modest growth compared with prior budgets, officials said. The proposed budget is within spending affordability limits set by the County Council, which by law can cut from the budget but can?t add to it.
Among other cuts, the council removed $25,000 from the Board of Elections budget for mailings and almost $80,000 from the fire department?s motor pool. Members reduced a $95,000 grant for the Port Discovery Museum in Baltimore and a $60,000 grant for the Baltimore County Historical Society by half.
The council is expected to adopt the budget next Thursday.
