Ulman Proposes Increases for Education, Public Safety in Operating Budget Without Tax Increases

Before the release of his fiscal year 2014 operating budget proposal, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman said in a statement that the propsed budget has record funding for education and a big boost for public safety.

"We want to make sure that we continue to invest to maintain the quality of life in this county," said Ulman.

Ulman announced the budget with a news release and interview with Patch, but the county did not distribute a copy of the budget on Friday as they were still working on it. The deadline to release the budget is Sunday, according to David Nitkin, communications director for the county.

In the statement, Ulman indicated he would propose a $920.8 million continuing-costs budget that would include 130 new education and health positions in the county as well as 12 new police officers, while not increasing taxes.

The $920.8 million is a 4.89 percent increase over last year's operating budget, according to Budget Administrator Raymond Wacks. Including one-time costs, the total budget will cost $966.7 million, according to Wacks.

The reason for the difference, said Wacks, is that the county is expecting a surplus once fiscal year 2013 closes at the end of June. Those surplus funds will then be applied to one-time costs in the county, such as a $5 million payment to develop arts in Downtown Columbia and $2.5 million for economic development measures.

More than half of the budget, $497.5 million is proposed for K-12 public education costs, a $15.1 million increase over last year, according to the statement. This increase is the largest since pre-recession budgets, according to the statement.

"Education is the anchor in this county," said Ulman about why he's increasing funding for schools.

The school funding includes $11 million for teacher salary increases and a $12.45 million payment for teacher pensions. Operating costs for 27 new teachers at the Ducketts Lane Elementary school, five paraeducators at Ducketts Lane and 12 literacy and math coaches throughout the county were also included in the budget.

The budget proposal includes the first cost of living increase for county employees since 2008, said Ulman. County Budget Administrator Ray Wacks said this would cost the county about $2 million.

"These are hard, hard working men and women who haven't had a cost-of-living increase in the last couple of years," said Ulman. "This is the year where we are able to do it."

Wacks said there has been a small growth in the assessable tax base over the last year, but that most of the additional funds for these increases comes from a surplus developed over the previous year.

The proposal also includes $96.6 million for the Howard County Police Department, which is an $8.7 million increase from the previous year. The proposed police funds would add 12 new positions: six officers focused on repeat offenders, two family crime officers, two traffic enforcement officers and two communtiy service officers.

A $2.5 million economic development package is proposed that would create four different centers designed to spur technological innovation. These would include a center for 3D digital manufcaturing ($500,000) and an angel investor academy ($100,000) that would educate "high net-worth individuals to become active angle investors in Maryland."

Before going into effect, the budget will be reviewed and voted on by the Howard County Council.

Ellicott City-specific proposals:

• Funding for two new positions at the Roger Carter Community Center, which is scheduled to open later in 2013.

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