Almost $67 million in surplus money is funding one-time investments in Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker’s budget despite county jobs and services being cut. His proposed fiscal 2012 budget calls for making three one-time grants with leftover money accumulated in the general fund.
Baker’s budget chief, Thomas Himler, said the county has $116 million in surplus funds because the county brought in more revenue and spent less than expected for several years. But he said officials chose not to spend it on recurring costs because the county wouldn’t have the funding next year.
The county is facing a projected $77 million budget deficit, and Baker’s budget includes across-the-board cuts to agencies.
The investments have caused confusion for residents, who question why the surplus money isn’t being used to help plug shortfalls for agencies. For example, the school board is projecting a $155 million budget deficit next year.
“All we seem to have for as far as the eye can see are deficits,” resident Judy Robinson recently wrote on a Prince George’s County listserv about the surplus funds. “If I look confused, it’s because I am.”
Himler also said bond rating agencies prefer that the surplus funds be used for one-time expenses.
“Sometimes it’s hard to get folks to understand it,” Himler said. “Because they see that you have this money, you’re using $67 million. They say, ‘Well why don’t you put it in education or so forth?”
“But really, that money won’t be there next year,” he said.
Under the spending plan — which has to be approved by the county council — $50 million would go toward an economic development incentive fund being established to bring more commercial businesses to the county, he said.
Another $14 million would go to the school system to encourage employees to retire, and $3 million would go toward a construction project for the nonprofit Alice Ferguson Foundation, an Accokeek group that focuses on K-12 environmental education.
