Montgomery County Councilman Mike Knapp said he wants Maryland leaders to remember where much of the money they are about to cut in aid to local governments comes from.
“We are the economic engine of the state,” said Knapp, a Germantown Democrat and chairman of the county’s committee on economic development. “How far do you want to push to find out that your economic engine doesn’t work anymore?”
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said over the weekend that he expects to cut $250 million in overall aid to police departments, health services, community colleges and road maintenance, though he did not give specifics of how those cuts would be distributed around the state.
The cuts to local aid will be part of O’Malley’s efforts to close a $700 million mid-year budget gap.
Montgomery County routinely contributes the biggest amount of tax revenues to state coffers, while receiving one of the smallest returns from the state.
For every dollar the county’s residents and businesses spend on state taxes, the county gets 17 cents back in the form of direct state aid and contributions to teacher retirement funds, according to the most report from the Department of Legislative Services that looked at data from fiscal 2006. Prince George’s County got 55 cents back for every $1 it pays in state taxes, and the city of Baltimore received 96 cents.
Those numbers do not include state funding for massive capital projects, like the InterCounty Connector.
According to the legislative services report, Montgomery County had 17 percent of the state’s population and contributed 22 percent of the state’s total tax revenue, while receiving 10 percent of state aid to local governments in fiscal 2006.
Knapp said he expects the county will be faced with about $40 million in cuts from the state, with no obvious place to absorb that loss. The county just finished bridging more than a $550 million budget deficit and is looking at a $370 million budget gap next fiscal year.
Knapp said he doesn’t mind the county paying its fair share to cover the state’s budget gap, but said state leaders in Annapolis need to acknowledge how disproportionate the county’s contributions to state finances have been.
“There’s not a lot of respect there for the role that Montgomery County plays,” Knapp said. “That’s the part that drives me crazy.”
