With the renovation of Mount Hebron High School not in the budget, raising the fire tax isn?t needed, said Council Member Greg Fox, R-District 5.
“There should have been room, especially with Mount Hebron being taken out,” he said at the County Council?s first work session on Howard?s proposed capital budget Tuesday.
He suggested cutting more than $7.6 million from the capital budget, which funds construction projects.
“I don?t want to have to lose the fire stuff,” he said of programs funded by the fire tax such as the rural fire protection program, which provides underground water tanks to help fight fires in the rural areas.
Council members heard details on proposed programs from the county administration and discussed where the money would be spent.
County Executive Ken Ulman proposed raising the fire tax by 3 cents in the rural West and 1 cent in the East, which is served by public water and sewer.
The increase would bring the two districts to the same level and would reflect equal service in both areas, Ulman has said.
Mount Hebron improvements were pushed back a year to waitfor results of facilities assessments of the county?s four oldest high schools, which is expected in May.
Council Member Courtney Watson, D-District 1, said that since money wasn?t set aside for future construction, the school?s budget wasn?t fully funded as the administration had suggested. If money was included in this year?s budget, the project would be on track, Watson said.
“My concern is they get the renovations as soon as possible,” she said, adding a delay might put it at risk for receiving funding.
