The winners and losers in the fight for next year?s funds in Carroll will soon take shape as commissioners delve into their budget ? albeit several weeks late.
The county had delayed the budget process, waiting to see how much money the state would cut from its contributions to the county as it tried to close a $1.7 billion structural deficit.
With the General Assembly?s session ending Monday, the county plans to hold nearly a dozen work sessions, public hearings and agency meetings into the next several weeks in time to introduce its proposed budget by the end of April and adopt it by the end of May.
“Right now their attention seems to have moved away from the counties,” Carroll Budget Director Ted Zaleski said of the state legislature. “It seems to be on more internal, state kind of things, which makes us feel better. The thing we?re waiting on: If by the last day they haven?t done what they need to do, they may look at us again.”
Staff will begin meeting with commissioners to discuss the budget next week.
The county is expected to get $8.5 million less from the state this year, with $5 million of that coming out of the school system, Zaleski said.
The state could have cut about $7 million more from the county?s funding, but it focused this session more on state operations to make up the additional $220 million in the deficit, Zaleski said.
Harford County released its proposed budget last week. It included reduced spending on construction projects and about the same amount for day-to-day operations. Howard introduced its proposed capital budget last week, and Anne Arundel will propose its budgets in May.
