A Republican lawmaker took issue Wednesday with an e-mail detailing a public relations plan from Gov. Martin O?Malley?s office to drum up support for a tax increase in order to avoid cuts at the local level.
State Sen. E. J. Pipkin, R-District 36, criticized David Bliden ? executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties ? for e-mailing local officials, asking them to create a “good product” demonstrating how potential budget cuts at the state level could affect county operations.
Bliden suggested county officials package vignettes on “closing libraries, reductions in deputies, larger class size, no support for volunteer firefighters” that could be used to “share with other counties to get them motivated.”
“It?s the tone and the language and the organized effort,” Pipkin said. “It?s a group of officials getting together to work against Maryland taxpayers on government time.”
Analysts last month described a “doomsday” budget if taxes aren?t increased to alleviate a $1.4 billion state budget deficit for fiscal 2009. O?Malley announced a total of $280 million in state budget cuts Tuesday and has previously said he will try to stave off cuts to county aid.
Some have suggested the state stop paying the total contribution to teacher pensions, and have the counties pay half ? $324 million ? filling a fifth of the deficit. But Bliden ? who defended the e-mail as asking county officials to “translate raw numbers into reality” ? said that would require counties to increase property tax rates by as much as 11 cents for each $100 of assessed value.
“Counties are not ashamed to be working with the governor who understands the inequity of shifting the state?s fiscal challenges to them,” Bliden said.
In the e-mail, Bliden said O?Malley will be visiting counties over the next week, presenting an “opportunity to deliver” the “coordinated message.”
Examiner Staff Writer Len Lazarick contributed to this report.
