Baltimore County's Smith proposes $1.7B budget

Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith this morning proposed a $1.7 billion budget that includes a modest spending increase ? but no new taxes ? and reflects what he called the county and state?s “economic malaise.”

The 2009 budget comes within $977 of the 4.56 percent spending increase cap recommended by a committee that expressed concern with decreasing county revenues amid the sour housing market. In his sixth annual budget message, the Democrat said he did not include anything that isn?t essential to basic government.