Rural Counties Get Pummeled by O’Malley Cuts 8/09

County leaders were blindsided by the severity of the proposed local aid cuts discussed by Governor Martin O’Malley behind closed doors at the Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) conference earlier this month.  At that time, O’Malley told county leaders that they could face significant cuts to police agencies and health departments as well as a 90% reduction in local transportation funding.

In response, county leaders asked that the Administration grant them more flexibility in how they manage the state cuts to local aid, especially the ability to seek efficiencies in K-12 spending which O’Malley has held harmless from cuts (see our post “O’Malley Offers Platitudes of Partnership Speech at MACO” click here). 

During the Governor’s annual speech the next day, O’Malley responded that he had had a sleepless night after their exchange.  But that appears to be the only effect of his meeting with local officials.

The final local aid reductions announced at the Board of Public Works today show that little was changed in response to the county leaders’ pleas for flexibility in managing their budgets.

Rural counties were hit the hardest under O’Malley’s budget reduction plan.  Urban counties generally saw a one-third cut in local aid while the rural counties were generally hit with cuts of 40% to 50%.

The chart below shows the percentage of cuts in funding to the affected categories (local health, police aid, community colleges and highway user revenue).  State aid to K-12, libraries and disparity grants are not included in the calculations.  The counties are listed below in their rank of severity of cuts: