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County government offering incentive for employees to retire Jack McLaughlin Facing budget shortfalls, Harford County government is offering an incentive for eligible county employees to retire. During a Jan. 19 news conference in the County administration building in Bel Air, Harford County Executive David Craig said eligible employees could receive 100 percent payment for accumulated sick leave rather than the current 50 percent return. Employees would have to apply for retirement by March 12 and leave no later than June 30, the last day of the 2010 fiscal year. As many of 25 percent of the county’s approximately 1,200 employees would be eligible for retirement. Employees with 30 years service under the Maryland Retirement Agency, which covers state jobs and posts with counties and municipalities that are part of the system, are eligible for full retirement payments. Those with as little as five years who have reached age 62 may receive the minimum payments. Recent months have seen “a great deal of volatility in revenues and revenue projections ” said Craig at the press conference. He pointed out the state has eliminated 90 percent of the highway user revenues formerly received by the county. Income tax receipts from he state are down by as much as 13.5 percent, a potential drop of almost $8 million in county revenue. Property tax assessments on which property taxes are based also are down. One third of the county is reassessed each year. Assessments in the third of Harford most recently assessed will be down an average of 16 percent. “Some people would look at this as gloom and doom, for me, however, this is the fourth time I have been asked to lead government through a down turn in the economy, twice as Mayor of Havre de Grace and twice as County Executive," said Craig. “As long as we plan wisely and use balance in our approach, we will get through these difficult times successfully,” he said. Craig said that as he began preparing the FY 2011 budget in September, he suggested county agency and department heads submit flat budgets with no increased expenditures for the fiscal year that starts July 1. He later directed department budgets be reduced by 5 percent from current levels. Because of declining revenue projects, all county departments also were told to hold back 5 percent of the budgets for the current fiscal year. Craig held town hall meetings with county employees in October and November to get their recommendations for ways to cut costs and make county government run more efficiently. A retirement buyout was among the suggestions. The County Executive said he also is concerned about two issues impacting the budget that are expected to be considered during the current session of the General Assembly, teachers’ pension and Maintenance of Effort requirements. Maryland’s maintenance of effort law requires political subdivisions provide at least the same level of funding for their respective public school systems that they did the year before. If the funding level is not maintained, the local school systems are subject to fines and loss of state aid. Craig said most counties, including Harford, have met or exceeded maintenance of effort requirements in the past. Last year three counties, Prince George’s, Montgomery and Wicomico, sought waivers with the support of the local boards of education. The Maryland State Board of Education turned down the appeals. “I strongly support correcting this process to allow counties more flexibility in meeting Maintenance of Effort (requirements) during this challenging economic times,” Craig said. Craig also spoke to suggestions by some state officials that teachers’ pensions become the responsibility of the county governments. He said members of the state legislature should look at the actions they took with the passage of HB 1737 four years ago, which enhanced teachers’ retirements. It also, noted Craig, resulted in a $700 million shortfall in the state budget. The state has to handle its deficit without balancing the budget on the back of local government, said Craig. “We are all in this together and passing on budget issues to local or county government does not solve the problem, it just redistributes the issue, ” he said.
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