Duking it out on the budget

Friday, Feb. 10, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Photo illustration by Dan Gross⁄The Gazette

The session has so far been dominated by pitched battles over veto overrides and gay marriage. The bitter partisanship that marked those debates is heating up again. At stake are billions of dollars — and the fall’s elections.

‘‘The money is here,” said Del. Murray D. Levy, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. ‘‘Santa Claus has come to town.”

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. is on the warpath because Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s capital budget does not include key projects for his alma mater, the University of Maryland, College Park. Senate Democrats are test-driving plans to devote more money to school construction instead of cutting the state’s property tax, as the Republican governor has proposed.

Negotiations are under way in the House on a long-term plan to improve the pension system for the state’s teachers, throwing an expensive, politically charged idea on the table in the second half of the session.

And don’t forget that legalizing slot machines is still the elephant in the room.

Already the rhetoric is flying. Hearings have been set. Cuts are being mapped out. And lobbying has shifted into high gear.

Inside:

*Is the University of Maryland, College Park getting stiffed on state aid?

*Instead of cutting the state property tax, why not use that money to pay for much-needed school construction?

*With pensions among the lowest in the nation, how can Maryland attract and retain certified teachers?

*Can we really afford$20 million for stem cell research or are there deeper cuts lawmakers can make?

See related stories:

Hogan: Use property tax cut money for school construction

Miller: College Park stiffed in capital budget

Cuts to horses, stem cells raise Ehrlich’s dander

Franchot flays Flanagan over local road aid

Levy: No slots for retirement