Trust But Verify

As the legislative session began in Maryland, Montgomery County officials were surprised to discover that the school construction funds that they were expecting from the state fell far short of expectations, about $35 million short to be exact. What happened?

Well, apparently Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett brokered a deal with Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley to get some of his county’s lawmakers to support O’Malley’s special November session agenda which included the largest tax increase in Maryland history in return for increased school construction funding.

Leggett was so sure of this amount that he even alluded to it in his State of the County address last month.
Since there is still time to adjust the numbers Leggett is still holding out hope that he will get his promised number.

He shouldn’t hold his breath though with the state facing a large deficit the governor doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room to fund all his promises.
When asked about the construction number, O’Malley told the Washington Post “That’s their goal, and I’m going to do my best to get to it.”

It looks like Leggett has been burned by the governor. County residents are now paying higher sales taxes and many will also face higher income taxes and he comes away with less than half the money he expected to build schools.

Thanks Martin, for nothing.