Montgomery and Prince George?s counties, Maryland?s two largest jurisdictions with 31 percent of the state?s population, will receive a relatively small 15 percent share of the $810 million capital budget the House of Delegates is scheduled to approve this week.
Besides $400 million for school construction, where the two get about a quarter of the funds ($108 million), the bulk of the moneygoing to higher education ($208 million) and local projects ($70 million) is being provided for institutions and projects in the Baltimore region, mostly in Baltimore City.
“I?m very disappointed” in the amount going to Montgomery County, said Sen. Patrick J. Hogan, D-Montgomery, vice chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee, which will be dealing with its version of the capital budget this week.
Most of the House budget reflects the priorities of Gov. Martin O?Malley. Montgomery County took its biggest hit when O?Malley delayed funding $65.6 million for a new district court house in Rockville.
That was one of several projects put on hold so O?Malley could spend the record $400 million on public school construction, said Del. Adrienne Jones, D-Baltimore County, chairman of the House capital budget subcommittee.
Baltimore City and Baltimore, Montgomery and Prince George?s counties were deliberately given about the same amount for school construction, Jones said, the top priority of all the county executives. The Washington suburbs have 80,000 more pupils than the Baltimore jurisdictions.
“I?m not going to take those numbers” for school construction, Hogan said.
Hogan was also unhappy that Montgomery College was denied its request for $40 million for buildings on its three campuses, including a new science building in Rockville. The college is only getting $1.2 million out of pot of $56 million for capital grants to community colleges.
“It?s the second-largest college in the state after the University of Maryland, College Park,” Hogan said.
By contrast, $81 million is going for two buildings at Coppin State University, the historically black campus in Baltimore, and $13.5 million go for a liberal arts complex at Towson University, the second-largest university.
“We?re trying to make changes now,” Hogan said.
Jones pointed out that a number of the Baltimore projects, including $13.5 million for several projects at Johns Hopkins Hospital, are getting follow-up funding for projects approved in previous years. “Some of them were in the last year of funding,” Jones said. “They had already been in the pipeline.”
