Showing posts with label MD Issues fiscal discipline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MD Issues fiscal discipline. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Mark Newgent - Red Maryland: O'Malley Repeats Budget Cuts Fiction

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2011




O'Malley told the Annapolis press corps, "Ever since this recession hit we've been relying almost exclusively, with some exceptions, but almost exclusively on the cuts. That's why we've racked up $6.8 billion in cuts."

Except that under O'Malley the state budget has ballooned.

Here’s how much O’Malley spent in his five budgets since he took office in 2007... http://redmaryland.blogspot.com/2011/12/omalley-repeats-budget-cuts-fiction.html

Mark Newgent - Red Maryland: O'Malley Repeats Budget Cuts Fiction

http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/2012/01/mark-newgent-red-maryland-omalley.html

Robert Lang WBAL: O'Malley Says Gas Tax, Other Increases Part Of Agenda In 2012

O'Malley Says Gas Tax, Other Increases Part Of Agenda In 2012


Thursday, December 29, 2011

Robert Lang in Annapolis and Associated Press

Governor Martin O'Malley says lawmakers in 2012 will have to have the "courage" to consider tax hikes as well as spending cuts, and that includes an increase in the state's gasoline tax.

At a briefing for reporters in Annapolis today, O'Malley said lawmakers have already cut $6.8-billion in spending over the last four years.

He says more money is needed for road and bridge projects.

[…]

He notes that the state's 23.5-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax was set in 1992 when gasoline was selling for more than $1.10 a gallon. Regular now sells for more than $3 a gallon. He notes that gas tax revenue has not kept up with rising costs of infrastructure projects.

[…]

Earlier this year, a commission recommended a 15-cent-a-gallon increase in the gas tax over three years.

The governor also says he may seek an increase in the so called "flush tax" on septic systems, and plans to pursue legislation to restrict new septic systems… http://www.wbal.com/article/84939/2/template-story/OMalley-Says-Gas-Tax-Other-Increases-Part-Of-Agenda-In-2012






[20111229 OMalley Gas Tax Other Increases 2012 Agenda]

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Kevin Dayhoff The Tentacle: 428 MGA It’s going to be ugly http://tinyurl.com/4ktmtk4


Kevin Dayhoff The Tentacle: 428 MGA It’s going to be ugly http://tinyurl.com/4ktmtk4

http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=4161  January 12, 2011 “It’s going to be ugly” by Kevin E. Dayhoff  http://tinyurl.com/4ktmtk4

Today is the first day of the 428th legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly and, as in past years, the main question on the minds of the leadership of this august body’s deliberations will be, “Welcome to Maryland, what’s in your wallet?”

One of the many enigmas hovering over the upcoming session is the perception that this session will be a ho-hum gathering of lawmakers, filled with low expectations and high anxiety.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Many tend to agree with the assessment offered by State Senator-elect Joe Getty (R., Carroll-Baltimore). At a legislative breakfast last Thursday, Mr. Getty summed up his analysis of the upcoming session with one word: It will be “ugly.” … http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=4161

[20110112 TT sdosmetal it is going to be ugly]



*****
Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The multi-turn stop valve

The multi-turn stop valve. The fiscally minded in Washington should never leave home without it. Kevin Dayhoff March 2, 2010 http://tinyurl.com/yaa396m

[20100302 valve] Dayhoff Art, Dayhoff Art political, MD Issues fiscal discipline, US Congress, US Congress fiscal discipline

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2010/03/multi-turn-stop-valve.html http://tinyurl.com/yaa396m

http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/301534.html

*****

Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net Explore Carroll: www.explorecarroll.com The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com

*****
Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Red Maryland: Way to Avoid Maryland's Proposed EZ Pass Fee


Red Maryland: Way to Avoid Maryland's Proposed EZ Pass Fee

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

My wife called this to my attention the other day and we are less than pleased…

Ya know – this is nuts. Maryland should be encouraging the use of EZ Pass as it saves the state a great deal of money in personnel expenses and other assorted overhead with efficiency fueled by technology.

Way to Avoid Maryland's Proposed EZ Pass Fee

Despite the tough economic times, I knew Governor Martin O'Malley could never resist the urge to raise some form of tax/fee.


Read the rest of Red Maryland’s post here: Way to Avoid Maryland's Proposed EZ Pass Fee


Kevin Dayhoff: www.westgov.net Westminster Maryland Online www.westminstermarylandonline.net http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/

Kevin Dayhoff E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr DOT org His columns appear in The Tentacle, www.thetentacle.com; The Westminster Eagle /Eldersburg Eagle The Sunday Carroll Eagle - Opinion: http://explorecarroll.com/opinion-talk/ www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ www.westminstermarylandonline.net http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ http://www.youtube.com/user/kevindayhoff http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1040426835 http://picasaweb.google.com/kevindayhoff

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Dixon and City Democrats Get Raises While Contemplating Layoffs


Public officials accepted a pay raise in this economic climate is beyond bizarre…

December 10, 2008

Dixon and City Democrats Get Raises While Contemplating Layoffs


ANNAPOLIS—On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Mayor Sheila Dixon, City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, City Comptroller Joan Pratt and the 13 other City Council members had pay raises approved by the Baltimore City Board of Estimates, which all three of them sit on. The move was done without identifying the titles or names of those receiving a raise. This comes at a time when Mayor Dixon has not ruled out layoffs for city workers and revoked cost of living raises for middle managers.

“Once again, this is an example of Maryland Democrat leaders operating under a different set of rules than the rest of us,” said MDGOP Chairman Jim Pelura. “These raises amount to $26,250 which is a substantial amount of money to anyone who is not a big-government politician. Mayor Dixon is talking about laying off lower level city workers. I certainly think that $26,250 might save at least one job. Do as I say, not as I do is becoming a common stance in Baltimore City and the state of Maryland.”

“We need new leadership for Maryland that puts taxpayers, small businesses, and working families first. There are several leaders who have volunteered to take part in the furloughs for state employees. Mayor Dixon, Council President Rawlings-Blake, and Comptroller Pratt should follow suit and reject these pay raises,” concluded Pelura.

###

To members of Maryland Republican Party FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Justin Ready 410-263-2125

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Governor Martin O'Malley Delivers Address on Fiscal Responsibility

Governor Martin O'Malley Delivers Address on Fiscal Responsibility

[ View Video / Read Remarks ]

WASHINGTON, DC (July 31, 2008) – Governor Martin O’Malley delivered a major address before the Center for American Progress today, focusing on the restoration of fiscal responsibility in Maryland. As states work to balance their budgets in the midst of a rising federal deficit, a faltering national economy and mortgage crisis, Governor O’Malley addressed how to restore fiscal responsibility while making critical investments in our shared priorities, like public education, infrastructure, energy and affordable, quality health care.

“Many States have had to deal with budget shortfalls by carving into priorities like public safety, public education and healthcare,” said Governor O’Malley. “None of the options are popular, but while some of these choices pull us backwards, other choices can and will move us forward – even in the toughest of times.”

Governor O’Malley, facing an inherited $1.7 billion structural deficit upon taking office, worked with leaders in the General Assembly to virtually close the budget shortfall through a series of reforms, including nearly $1.8 billion in spending cuts and reductions, the elimination of over 700 State positions, and the implementation of a progressive tax structure that allows 95% of Marylanders to pay the same or less in income taxes as they did in the prior year.

“Nothing that we accomplished in the three week Special Session was easy. But, throughout the difficult consensus-forging work, we continued to proclaim the goals that unite us: to strengthen and grow our middle class, and family owned businesses and farms; to improve public safety and public education in every region of our State; and to expand opportunity – the opportunity to learn and earn, the opportunity to enjoy the health of the people we love and the environment we love to more people rather than fewer.”

The Governor continued. “We eliminated government positions and implemented performance based management practices that helped eliminate nearly $20 million in overtime costs, and saved our State more than $20 million in Medicaid fraud recoveries. We closed the arcane, violent House of Corrections, which not only turned out to be the right thing to do morally, it also saved taxpayers $10 million. We replaced well-intentioned funding indexes that had fueled unsustainable spending in the past and threatened to accelerate spending in the immediate future. And we passed a package of legislation that modernized our tax code while lowering the income tax rate for 90 percent of Marylanders, and increasing the State Earned Income Tax Credit for hard-working families and our aspiring middle class.”

“When faced with a crippling structural deficit, we asked our neighbors in Maryland to embrace, once again, the politics of posterity. The politics which embraces the duty we have, not only to our neighbors, but to the next generation,” Governor O’Malley said. “The politics that believes tomorrow can be better than today, and that each of us has a personal freedom and moral responsibility, by our own actions and by our own investments, to make it so. Just as our parents and grandparents built our roads, our schools, and our hospitals with their blood, their sweat, their tears, and yes, with their hard earned dollars, we asked our fellow Marylanders to join us in choosing a better future for our own posterity.”

Governor O’Malley discussed the circumstances surrounding the inherited $1.7 billion structural deficit as context for the reforms the O’Malley-Brown Administration implemented to correct it.

“While a slowing economy exacerbated our circumstances, the primary cause was of our own making. In a flash of bi-partisan irresponsibility we had locked in nearly two billion dollars in increased expenditures, primarily in public education, while at the same time cutting income taxes for millionaires and everyone else by a billion dollars. And despite the $3 billion in backhanded stealthy property tax increases, fee and toll increases, and 40 percent increases in college tuition of our predecessor, the chickens of our bad math were coming home to roost. In the words of the great Abraham Lincoln, we could no longer ‘escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.’”

Outlining the strong, sustainable fiscal environment in which these reforms now place the State of Maryland, Governor O’Malley recognized the challenge that all states face in difficult economic times and the opportunities for progress fiscal responsibility can present.

“By taking these actions we were able to address a huge structural deficit that was years in the making. Two weeks ago the rating agencies affirmed Maryland’s Triple A Bond Rating, meaning that we’re still one of only seven states to hold the highest rating of credit worthiness from all three major bond agencies. But the true value of restoring fiscal responsibility is found in the progress that we are now able to make for the common good and stronger future that all of us would prefer.”

Former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta founded the Center for American Progress, the think tank that hosted Governor O’Malley for his address today, in 2003. The Center’s experts cover a wide range of issue areas, and often work across disciplines to tackle complex, interrelated issues such as national security, energy, and climate change. The Center is designed to shape national debate through dialogue with leaders, thinkers, and citizens, affecting positive change and developing a position of long-term leadership for America.

[ Watch Video ]

Additional Press Releases

http://www.gov.state.md.us/pressreleases/080731.asp

20080731 Gov O’Malley Delivers Address on Fiscal Responsibility

July 31 Center for American Progress: Fiscal Responsibility July 21 Signing of Evergreen Marine Agreement Transcript July 25 Infants and Toddlers Program Announcement July 24 Testimony Before Senate Subcommittee on Government Efficiency July 17 Leonardtown Capital for a Day July 10 Announcement of Statewide Interoperability Strategy July 8 DNA and Bearcat Announcement