Garrett County elected all new members to its governing body last year, but the sluggish economy that swept many incumbents out of office remains an issue.
While the Western Maryland county has fared better than most since the start of the recession, lawmakers still fell short of revenue estimates by $17 million this year.
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“Then we had a quandary,” said county administrator Monty Pagenhardt.
In the end, Garrett County commissioners approved a $73 million budget for fiscal 2012 that included 4 percent pay increases for unionized employees and $500, one-time bonuses for the rest of its work force some of which was paid for with money from the county’s reserve fund.
In total, the county borrowed $1 million from its $3.3 million reserve fund, $700,000 of which was used to fund public schools.
“We kind of borrowed from ourselves,” said Pagenhardt, who noted that the county is planning to restore the funds next year.
Each of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions has taken a different path to closing budget gaps for fiscal 2012, which began July 1, according to Michael Sanderson, executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties.
1 comment:
That sucks for the non-union workers. I guess it pays to be union.
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