A less partisan and more conciliatory Gov. Robert Ehrlich, hoping to patch up a relationship that got off to a rocky start with municipal leaders, described his plans for the next four years ? presuming he wins a second term.
His goals include:
» Increased money for local school construction, possibly funded by slot machine gambling;
» More “affordable work-force housing” for government employees and others at lower wage scales;
» Increased financial assistance to programs to monitor sex offenders;
» More focus on gang control on the streets and in prisons.
As Ehrlich coped with a large deficit in his first year and cut aid to local jurisdictions, “the counties felt the budget was balanced on their backs,” said James DiPaula, Ehrlich?s chief of staff who was then budget secretary.
“I gave you my word” that those cuts would be restored, Ehrlich told the county officials at the Maryland Association of Counties meeting in Ocean City.
“He?s worked on the relationship,” and improved it, even though “there were a lot of things we didn?t agree on,” said this year?s MACO president, Howard County Executive Jim Robey.
In Maryland, local governments and the state “have a relationship that you don?t see in other states,” said Robey, based on national meetings he?s attended.
In a review of his first term, Ehrlich said, “community colleges are priority one” since they are “in the vanguard of what we need to do” in work force training.
In addition, nurses, teachers, police, firefighters and those in many technical jobs “need to live in or near the communities where they work,” he said.
Ehrlich added that the state wants to work with local governments in helping them control growth and development, rather than imposing it from above.
State House Speaker Michael Busch said a number of issues Ehrlich pointed to as part of his record ? stricter air pollution controls, higher teacher pensions, more school funding and public school construction ? “were all initiatives of the General Assembly.”
“The road map from this four years has basically set the standard for the next four years,” Busch said.
