18-years ago on Wednesday, January 14, 2004, this was the editorial in the Carroll County Times.
Editorial for Wednesday, January 14, 2004 “Another tight budget”
The 2004 legislative session opens today looking remarkably similar to the opening day last year, with talk of a tight budget year, low revenues and a major battle brewing over Gov. Robert Ehrlich's desire to legalize slot machines.
Add to that increased state mandates and additional costs to education by the still unfunded recommendations of a state commission tasked with improving education and additional costs associated with improving schools as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act; a Department of Transportation that says it is desperately underfunded and wants to increase its revenue by increasing the gasoline tax or install toll booths on some roadways; word that the governor's promised rollback of last year's property tax increase isn't going to happen; and municipal budgets that continue to strain under the weight of increased services without a means to pay for them and the situation looks dire for Maryland taxpayers hoping to escape the 90-day session without having to fork over more of their hard-earned paychecks.
Apparently state legislators and the Ehrlich administration have done little in the nine months since the last legislative session ended to identify where programs can be made more cost-effective or identify new sources of revenue that don't include taking money from taxpayers.
As such, we should expect that legislators will not be introducing any legislation that will add to the size or cost of government.
We should expect that programs in existence will be evaluated for the benefits that are received in relation to their cost, and an emphasis will be placed on fixing or eliminating inefficient programs while maintaining those that are working.
In short, legislators have to do their homework.
The trend of turning to taxpayers for more money even as government expands must stop. Failing that, taxpayers will take another hit this year, and the stage will be set for more tax increases in 2005.
+++ Dayhoff Carroll +++
Kevin Dayhoff for Westminster Authority Caroline Babylon, Treasurer.
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