Here’s three questions about the Governor’s local aid cuts that should interest everyone who lives outside the City of Baltimore and Prince George’s County.
1. Why was police aid cut by 17% in Prince George’s County and by 35% everywhere else?
2. Why were highway user revenues cut by 19% in Baltimore City and by 90% everywhere else?
3. Community college aid was cut by 5% in every jurisdiction except for Baltimore City. Baltimore City Community College’s costs are entirely covered by the state, an amount originally set at $42.6 million in the Governor’s proposed FY 2010 budget. Was this funding also cut by 5%?
Local health aid was cut by 35% for every jurisdiction, the only category in which an equal percentage was applied everywhere.
Yesterday, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett said that the Governor had been “fair in his distribution of cuts.” Did his staff review this information first?