County Executive Leads Rally Against Pension Shift

More than 60 Howard County employees, from the police department to the library system, joined County Executive Ken Ulman Thursday morning in a Stop the Shift protest against a proposal by Gov. Martin O'Malley to push some of the costs for teacher pensions to the counties.

Ulman, past president of the Maryland Association of Counties, said he disagrees with O'Malley's plan to put $240 million of teacher pensions onto local jurisdictions this year, $17 million of which would fall on Howard County in fiscal year 2013.

The governor's plan, released last month, would combine the pension and social security costs and then split the total 50-50 with local governments.

Baltimore County is the only jurisdiction to .

"The governor's budget as submitted was designed to help the state government in terms of passing the costs on to the local governments in a form that gave the local governments back some revenue," said Baltimore County Aministrative Officer Fred Homan.

To help the counties balance their budgets, O'Malley's plan includes millions of dollars in offsets for the counties.

Even so, Ulman said the 2002 passage of the "Bridge to Excellence" was a state decision to increase salaries and keep teachers in Maryland, a move for which counties should not be held accountable.

"We all want our teachers to be paid what they deserve, but the state forgot to fund it," Ulman said. "Now that the state doesn't think they can afford it, rather than make the tough decisions at the state level to pay for it, they're sending the bill to counties."

Ulman—along with Howard County's Chief of Police William McMahon, Superintendent Sydney Cousin, Board of Education Chair Sandra French and county department heads—listed programs and resources that could be cut if a $17 million burden is added to the county's expenses.

• POLICE could cut 50 police positions, close satellite offices, cut community resource officers and 18 school resource officers, according to the Howard County Times' report.
• PARKS could reduce hours of operation, require longer response time for field maintenance and not open Roger C. Carter pool for summer.
• SCHOOLS could cut 225 teaching positions, after-school initiatives, athletic programs and transportation, according to the Howard County Times, which reported what the superintendent said, while also stating that the school board hasn't discussed a contingency plan for budget cuts yet.

County Council Chair Mary Kay Sigaty said the shift would "'impact the poor in our community more than anyone,'" reported the Howard County Times.

At a Wednesday in Columbia, the Association of Community Services said that either way the pension cost falls, its membership will be affected since most organizations are funded through state or county aid.