Harford County Executive David Craig said today that Governor Martin O’Malley’s proposed budget for next year shifts over $8 million to Harford County taxpayers to fund teacher pensions. The statement came in a Facebook posting by Craig that promised more information to come.
Below is the Facebook statement posted Wednesday afternoon:
David Craig
Beware! The Governor is playing the shell game with the budget. Over 8 million dollars is being shifted to Harford County taxpayers to fund teacher’s pensions. Tax increases in the form of deduction eliminations are on the way in the new budget. More info to come…
During a Harford County Board of Education work session Wednesday night, the board confirmed knowledge and concern over the pension shortfall:
“The Pension section of the proposed budget may need to be amended based on the Governor’s proposed budget. Prior to this announcement by the Governor this week, the Superintendent’s Proposed Budget estimated that the State Aid to Local School Systems would be $33,360,568. Projecting costs based on the new legislation proposed shifting half of the pension costs to local school systems, HCPS could be facing an approximately $8.3 million shortfall.”
From the Harford County Board of Education:
The Board of Education of Harford County met for a public budget work session on Wednesday, January 18, 2012, in the Board Room of the HCPS/A.A. Roberty Building and received the following presentation:
Received public comment on the Superintendent’s Proposed FY13 Operating Budget. (www.hcps.org/budget)
Participated in Budget Discussion #2. Below you will find some of the highlights from that discussion:
Began the presentation with the Utility Resource Management section of the budget. Accomplishments for FY2011 include:
– Alternative Energy Installations
– Lighting upgrades of energy efficient equipment at six schools
– Received $267,058 in BGE Smart Energy Rebates
Discussed the partnership with County Government on numerous projects with respect to Technology in order to conserve resources.
The Food Services Department is a self-sustaining enterprise meaning they receive no funding from the operating budget.
The Capital Budget was approved by the Board in November 2011 totaling $15,706,131 and is included for informational purposes in the budget book.
The Pension section of the proposed budget may need to be amended based on the Governor’s proposed budget. Prior to this announcement by the Governor this week, the Superintendent’s Proposed Budget estimated that the State Aid to Local School Systems would be $33,360,568. Projecting costs based on the new legislation proposed shifting half of the pension costs to local school systems, HCPS could be facing an approximately $8.3 million shortfall.
Eligibility changes were made in the OPEB (Other Post Employment Benefits) fund establishing a three tiered structure for benefit pay-outs based on years of continuous service.
Tonight’s meeting is the last budget work session to be held regarding the Superintendent’s Proposed Budget for FY13. The Board is scheduled to vote on the budget on Monday, January 23rd at 7:00 p.m.
Thanks Governor! Instead of a cut in spending, you are giving the tax payers a new gas tax, an increased sales tax, and higher county taxes that have to come through pension funding.
Just remember that these are just ideas the Govenor is throwing out for consideration not unlike the proposed bills submitted by the legislators. They still must be debated, amended and passed before any of them becomes law.
What King O’malley wants; King O’malley gets.
That is the honest to God’s truth.
BTW, I goofed, it’s a 1.7 billion dollar increase from the F/Y 2012 budget. My bad! I gave him more credit than he deserved.
22% increase in spending since the Owe’ man took office!
http://redmaryland.blogspot.com/2012/01/would-you-like-more-kerosene-with-your.html
Craig
Craig: All state, county & local goverment worker are paying 2% more this then last to the State pension too fix it, but it do not go there it went too the gen. fund instend.
O’Mally is garbage!!
Well then just change the pension system so the teachers have to make up the $8.3MM difference. Most of them voted for him and their union supports him in numerous ways so let them foot the bill for their darling governor.
He fu_k them over too, and state too!
So after raising my personal contribution to the teacher pension system by 2%, then sending that 2% to the general fund and NOT the teacher pension fund, O’Malley is now going to effectively cost me more money due to either a rise in county taxes or no shot at a pay raise for years since the county needs to afford this burden somehow.
So glad the teacher’s union spent so much money supporting him and getting him re-elected.
Abingdon Teacher,
That’s your union which you support with your dues. Too bad you didn’t get that bonus, but I’m sure there was a very good reason for it. How do I know? Randy Cerveny assured me that it was true. When will you folks ever learn?
Not my union, then don’t receive a dime of my money. I work hard for the salary I receive and I don’t like seeing it be given blindly to political campaigns that have a Democrat running who does nothing but stab teachers in the back.
And MSTA and HCEA will not learn from this. They will blindly back the next person to run for governor with a “D” after their name.
Yes because the R candidate was so much more education friendly. When he was governor he raised the pension contribution and said it fixed the problem. That apperently was a lie too!
Abingdonteacher, “So glad the teacher’s union spent so much money supporting him and getting him re-elected.”
For such an educated group of people, it appears they chose the wrong guy to support. When we choose with our emotions instead of our minds, we often make the wrong decision. It has certainly happened to me. I try very hard to keep emotion out of my decision making when it comes to politics.
As an educated group of people, I would hope that in the future they learn to not blinded support the Democratic party like sheep.
I agree this sucks. If the pension costs are shifted to the county then the teacher tax should be given to the county as well.
It sounds like the public schools will be making significant cuts again. Maybe the useless positions of Instructional Facilitators, that makes a minimum of 92,500, will be eliminated as well as the plethora of teacher specialists. Take a look at Central Office and clean out the layers. Everyone will need to feel a bit of pain.
The state is proposing that the counties share in the cost of funding teacher pensions. The county can’t no longer keep on lowering property tax rates while cutting teacher and employee salaries so that they can keep on giving tax breaks to developer friends, building round abouts to nowhere and purchasing land at double the appraised values as they did recently in Joppa for not a “landfill”. The county can’t cry poor as they have a 30 million dollar surplus based on current projections and the counties should be paying pensions for their teachers.
It’s called checks and balances. When the state is supposed to be the “trust”ee of those funds, and the county’s are independent (for the most part) of the state, then we shouldn’t be raiding the “lock-box” for pet interests.
And WHY HASN’T the VERY FIRST COMMENT BEEN APPROVED! Still awaiting moderation for something that is true?