Commissioner James Mullin and Michael Dunn today announced the release of their “Cecil County Taxpayer Protection Plan.” This plan would cut millions and millions of dollars from the budget if each of the recommendations were enacted.  Mullin said that this plan should “serve as a starting point for discussion and debate on this year’s budget.”  The Commissioners will be taking final votes on the budget later in  May 2011 so they have approximately 3 months to make all budgetary decisions for FY2012.  Michael Dunn said that “our responsibility [as Commissioners] is to make tough decisions in tough economic times; this plan shows that I am willing to make tough decisions and put everything on the table when we talk about cuts.  I do not support tax increases and I will do my best to reduce spending at the county level to ensure that we keep taxes low in Cecil County.”  Here is the proposal:

Cecil County Taxpayer Protection Plan

Proposed by Commissioner James Mullin and Commissioner Michael Dunn

As your citizen representatives, we were elected as County Commissioners to fight for you and to improve Cecil County government for the benefit of future generations.  We realize that spending levels at the federal level and the state level are unsustainable and that county government cannot rely on federal or state funding to solve our budget problems.  Historic aid received from the federal government and the state of Maryland is decreasing and likely to continue decreasing in the future.  We must roll up our sleeves and make the tough decisions that the citizens of Cecil County elected us to make as Commissioners to balance the taxpayer budget and put the county on a sound financial path forward.

We realize that the only way to grow Cecil County’s economy while we currently have the highest unemployment rate in our region is to foster a favorable business climate here at home.  Keeping taxes predictable and low is important in creating such a climate not only for businesses, but for consumers.  We do not support increasing county tax rates to fund government programs.  Because we believe in smaller government, lower taxes, and improved efficiency in government we are proposing the following budget actions be implemented in Cecil County for the FY 2012 budget to help our county keep taxes low and spending in check as we continue to deal with difficult economic times.  The budget items listed below amount to more than $10 million dollars in spending reductions and would lead the way toward keeping taxes low and reducing government waste in Cecil County.

Reduce County Discretionary Fund. Cecil County government already has a well-funded rainy day fund; we find no reason to have yet another county savings account when we could give this money back to taxpayers or use it to pay down county debt.  If this fund were eliminated this could save the county approximately $4-5 million dollars.

Re-organize and Streamline Department of Economic Development. The best form of economic stimulus is to put more money in the pockets of Cecil County citizens and small businesses.  We propose to return $1 million to the taxpayers from the Dept. of Economic Development budget to help create more jobs and more prosperity for Cecil County.  The remaining budget allocation will be utilized for the department’s most important function: tourism promotion to showcase Cecil County to interested citizens, businesses, and travelers.

Fund Cecil County Public Schools at the Maintenance of Effort Level. All options are on the table including applying with the state of Maryland for a waiver on adhering to the Maintenance of Effort requirement for FY 2012.

Review all current county land/property rental agreements and service agreements. Market conditions necessitate that we renegotiate and/or exit agreements as needed.  This could potentially save the county at least $100,000 annually.

Consolidate and re-organize animal control function with either a new vendor and/or with the county Sheriff’s office. The budget allocation given to the Cecil County SPCA would be reduced by $500,000 and the remaining $148,000 allocated, based on FY2011 figures, would be dedicated to animal control operations implemented by the Sheriff’s Office and/or another vendor.

Reduce Cecil College funding allocation by $100,000 from FY 2011 levels and eliminate funding for small capital projects (totaled approximately $80,000 in FY 2011).

Reform Cecil County employee benefits program. The County Commissioners should consider ending the pension benefits programs for employees that are hired in the future in favor of contribution-based programs or higher pay.  The County should adopt the general philosophy of paying for labor here and now rather than enrolling employees in costly long-term pensions that often serve as tremendous financial liabilities to county government and taxpayers.

Eliminate Non-Profit Group Funding. Last year Cecil County taxpayers spent approximately $236,000 to fund non-profit entities.

Consolidate overlapping functions from the Department of Parks and Recreation to the Department of Public Works. This could generate savings of more than $100,000 per year until consolidation is complete.

Reduce ‘General Government’ budget category by 10% based on FY 2011 allocations in the category. This would save roughly $1.3 million dollars.

Reduce the ‘Public Safety’ budget category by 10% based on FY 2011 allocations in the category. This would save roughly $3.2 million dollars.

Reduce ‘Health and Welfare’ budget category by 10% based on FY 2011 allocations in the category. This would save roughly $500,000 dollars.