Over lunch in our conference room recently, Harford County Executive David Craig discussed his legislative priorities for the 2008 Maryland General Assembly session which was drawing near. He gave a similar briefing to the county's delegates and senators, and we have reported on our meeting, so there are no surprises in what follows in terms of what Craig is seeking from Annapolis, including the power to set up special taxing districts, or STDs, which our editorial board didn't think was a good idea — and have so written.
The starkness of the priorities list is surprising, almost as though Craig is resigned to getting very little, if any, state funding for projects this county desperately needs. Essentially he was saying: "Just follow through with what you have already said you'll help us with." Craig said he put the priorities list together out of necessity, after meeting with Gov. Martin O'Malley and his staff and basically being told Santa Claus still lives at the North Pole, not on the shores of the Severn River.
Harford County will be the ground zero for BRAC and, while Maryland stands to get a major windfall from the base realignments that will swell employment and activities in and around Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County, the state government, despite its coffers swelling with the biggest tax increase in state history, has pledged very little to help Harford County.
On the transportation front, Craig writes in a power point presentation he delivered to the delegation: "Harford County is advocating for increased transportation funding and decreased project time frames in order to move transportation projects in anticipation of BRAC. We encourage the delegation to actively advocate for the establishment of a BRAC Priority Process for transportation projects."
Good luck.
Craig said he's counting on intersection improvements, something already in the state's transportation plan, upgrades to Routes 715/40, 40/159 (Perryman Road)/40, 22/132 (Bel Air Avenue), 22/Beards Hill Road, 40/543, 40/155. Most are in the Aberdeen area or nearby. He's also hoping for complete dualization of the Bel Air Bypass from Benson to Hickory. Anyone who travels into or through the greater Bel Air area in the late afternoon on weekdays experiences bumper-to-bumper eastbound traffic on both Business Route 1 and the parallel bypass where the latter starts in Benson.
Craig's wish list mentions the widening of Route 22 from Route 543 in Fountain Green to the APG gate, widening Route 7 from Route 543 in Riverside to Route 40 in Aberdeen and extending Route 715 from the APG gate to Route 22, essentially a western Aberdeen bypass, discussed for years. Craig said the chances of getting money for any of those three is zero, nada, zilch. Basically, it's come back next year and the year after and the year after.
The program also lists a number of school projects for which funding is hoped. "We ask the Harford Delegation to advocate for an exception in the school construction approval process to allow BRAC population projections to be considered for school construction approval and funding," the county executive wrote.
Craig, however, conceded there's little chance of any additional state funding commitments for the replacement high schools in Edgewood and Joppatowne, which means the county could be looking at upwards of $150 million to $200 million of its own money to finish Bel Air High and build the other two replacements.
The state granted planning money for the proposed new elementary schools on Vale Road near Bel Air and Schucks Road near Harford Community College, but money to plan is not money to build. There is construction money approved for the modernization of Deerfield Elementary in Edgewood.
Craig said one reason he wants the option to create special taxing districts is to generate tax dollars up front to pay for schools, roads and other infrastructure needs. But his advocacy seemed a bit halfhearted, almost as though these STDs are a weak substitute for the state tax money that should be coming Harford's way. If BRAC is the disease, those STDs aren't the cure, not when your county is basically a goose poised to lay a golden egg for the state's tax coffers.
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