It?s not easy trying to improve the Green Fund to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, especially when the governor is already pushing for eight or nine different tax hikes to plug a deficit hole.
That?s what the Chesapeake Bay Foundation discoverd last week when it briefed lawmakers about a new version of their Green Fund plan that raises $85 million a year by tacking a penny-per-square foot fee on houses and commercial buildings.
Legislators dubbed it a new tax. Representatives of county and municipal governments complained that it was taking from one of their traditional revenue sources without giving anything back to local jurisdictions.
“I don?t know what the best label is,” said Kim Coble, Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay foundation. “We?ve been calling for a dedicated funding source for the bay for three years.”
The state of Maryland already has committed to reducing nutrients such as nitrogen in the bay. “We have programs in place that will achieve about 10 million pounds,” Coble said. The foundation believes that the state can reach 70 to 80 percent of its 20 million goal with more funding.
Del. Barry Glassman, R-Harford, suggested that an additional charge be added to the $30 a year “flush tax” on sewer and septic systems backed by Gov. Robert Ehrlich.
“It drives the counties crazy to create a whole extra fee,” Glassman said.
“The flush tax is money to upgrade sewage treatment plants” and raises about $65 million a year, Coble said. But pollution from those plants makes up only about half of the nutrient pollution. The rest comes from “non-point” sources, such as runoff from farms, lawns, roads and parking lots, Coble said.
The new Green Fund will address stormwater, Coble said.
David Bliden, executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties, said the proposed fee “undermines our ability to collect revenues from traditional county revenue sources,” such as the property tax. “It doesn?t mean that [the counties] are staunchly opposed,” Bliden said, but they?d rather see it funded through the sales tax or the lottery.
Del. Pamela Beidle, D-Anne Arundel, who serves on the Environmental Matters Committee, found support for the Green Fund at a large community meeting last week. Some residents “were ready to reach in their pocket and give the $20,” what the average homeowner would pay, she said.
