The Maryland Public Policy Institute
JUNE 30, 2010
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The next time you hit a pothole or complain about the state of your roads, think of Governor O’Malley. As the members of the Maryland Municipal League are complaining about this week, his budgets have taken transportation money from local governments, leading to a 90% reduction in state aid.
Although news reports call this money as a “subsidy” to counties that’s not really correct. This is money that is collected from gas taxes, car registration fees, and other things in the county and then partially returned to that county to pay for transportation projects. It’s about as close to a user fee as any tax can get.
The governor’s spokesman says that he had no choice but to raid this money to pay for other state spending. He says that the governor was cutting $5.5 billion from the state budget and this raid was a necessity. However, total spending under O’Malley has gone up from roughly $28.1 billion in 2007 to $32 billion today. Yes, spending out of the general revenue fund has gone down, but that’s because tax revenue has declined during that time. The increase in spending has been financed by temporary federal money and raids on money that is supposed to go to the counties, among other budget tricks.
To say that the governor had no choice in this matter is simply false. He could have cut spending instead of relying on budget gimmicks to pay for a 14% increase in spending over the past four years. But instead of making the hard choices, Governor O’Malley raised taxes in 2007 and is taking money that legally belongs to the counties to cover up his fiscal irresponsibility.
So enjoy those deteriorating roads. That’s what you get when you have a governor who prefers fiscal shenanigans over making tough budget choices.
I just pray for a victory by Ehrlich for Governor soon.
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