A state audit released Thursday shows Gov. Martin O?Malley and Maryland?s legislators are not yet serious about cutting waste. If they were, they would disband the Maryland Economic Development Corporation.
MEDCO?s debt skyrocketed 200 percent from 2000 to 2006 to $1.9 billion, largely due to perpetually money-losing “economic development” ventures, including the Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort in Cumberland. The $26.9 million black hole boasts a “forested mountain setting,” “pristine 243-acre lake,” and “Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course” which “gives you a new perspective on the wonders of golf.” Sure does.
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Other troubled projects include the Chesapeake Hills Golf Course ? as of last June it was $1.3 million in debt, $250,633 to MEDCO and $934,000 to Calvert County. None of this is new information. Yet no one has pushed MEDCO officials to either come up with a plan to salvage the projects or offload them from taxpayers? obligations.
With Maryland facing a $1.5 billion structural deficit ? note that MEDCO?s debt is larger ? now is not the time for taxpayers to tend greens around the state.
And the issues with MEDCO go beyond wasting money. The audit found MEDCO did not list all of its troubled projects in its annual report and that it has no guidelines to assess troubled projects or procedures to fix them once identified. It also did not ask approval from the Board of Public Works for a $1.25 million dollar contract as required by law and permitted lax accounting procedures.
In MEDCO?s response to the audit it agreed to reform many of the ways it operates to comply with the law and with appropriate accounting standards. But it defended the Rocky Gap project, saying it generates over $20 million for the region each year. Can MEDCO officials add? Only in government can A equal B.
As Christopher Summers, the head of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, said, “when you have deficits it should be the time to come to the table to make tough decisions about where efficiencies can be made.”
Cutting all funding to MEDCO would be a good start to reducing the deficit. Raising taxes ? as legislators have all but promised this year ? before eliminating such blatantly ineffective agencies is immoral and irresponsible.
Join the discussion in today’s examiNation Baltimore poll and question: How do you feel about the state of Maryland funding golf course operations?
