Cuts in highway user funds hurt municipalities, delegation told

CUMBERLAND — Leaders of Allegany County and municipalities from one end of the county to the other hammered home on Friday to all four members of the District 1 legislative delegation the importance of highway user funds from state government.

The funding was cut significantly in August when Gov. Martin O’Malley and the state Board of Public Works slashed more than $450 million from this year’s operating budget.

The consequences are devastating, elected officials from the county as well as Cumberland, Frostburg, Midland and Lonaconing agreed.

“I’ll take one last chance to beat a dead horse,” said Steve Young, director of the county’s Department of Public Works, of a conversation that’s been ongoing since those August cuts were announced. “I think this is the fourth time in seven years with (the fund being) cut.”

Young spoke Friday during the Allegany County commissioners’ public work session with the District 1 delegation in Cumberland. The annual meeting routinely takes place several weeks before the General Assembly convenes in January.

“The one thing when we thought about this time, the one point I don’t think has been made before, is taking this special-purpose revenue and taking it away from people who generate it. It isn’t really a fair thing to do.”

Young said the highway user fund, which goes toward local road improvement projects such resurfacing, is designed to benefit local residents in specific jurisdictions. It is calculated primarily on gas tax revenue and vehicle registration fees.

“The majority of people reside on local streets,” Young said, “but they’re not getting access to these funds.”

Warren Foote, Lonaconing commissioner, said the town had already spent approximately $30,000 of the $88,000 in highway user funds originally allocated. Then the cuts were announced — and Lonaconing’s new allocation of $9,000 was nearly 90 percent less than first approved. The year before, Lonaconing was given nearly $120,000.

Frostburg Mayor Arthur Bond said the August cuts eliminated $323,000 in highway user funding and an additional $60,000 in police funding.

“In meeting with the governor’s representatives, they informed us the remaining $100,000 in roads will be taken next year,” Bond said. “That leaves us with nothing.”

Midland Mayor Craig Alexander said town workers “won’t be doing any paving projects in the current year” and money for the town’s streetlights now will be taken from the general fund.

“We can survive one year,” Alexander said. “But if it continues into a second and possibly a third year, we’re looking at the possibility of municipalities either turning off their streetlights ... and not continue to function in some of those basic areas. You need to decide whether you want to have strong municipalities ... or whether the state or county wants to take that over and deal with the problems.”

Allegany County Commissioner Dale Lewis asked the delegation if the state finance workers who project revenue estimates could do a better job in the future.

“We set our budget on what you tell us we’re going to receive,” Lewis said. “All of a sudden, you’re in a hole. That puts us in a hole. I’m wondering ... when they project what they’re going to get, can they get a little more accurate? We know they can’t hit the nail on the head, but to be hundreds of millions of dollars short ... do I know how to predict it? No. But I tell you one thing. When they do that down state, that just kills us up here.”

Sen. George Edwards said state revenue projectors “try to be as accurate as they can.”

He warned local governments “not to get too comfortable” because the Board of Public Works could announce a new round of cuts later this month.