An Increase in Effort
While the Maryland General Assembly continues to undertake a slash and burn campaign against businesses and taxpayers, some Senate Democrats have pivoted and focused on passing new burdens on to county government through a drastic expansion of the maintenance of effort requirements:
Expanding on last year’s Maintenance of Effort requirements mandating counties’ levels of funding for K-12 education, Montgomery County senators are seeking to establish similar requirements for county critical services throughout the state. Representatives of county governments think it’s a bad idea.
“The bill [SB1055] establishes minimum funding requirements for state grants to counties, within specific funding categories,” Sen. Roger Manno, D-Montgomery, explained in his testimony before the Senate Budget & Taxation Committee on which he serves.
Funding categories covered by the bill, what Manno calls “critical services,” include: corrections; fire protection, rescue, and ambulance services; law enforcement, including sheriffs and deputy sheriffs; public libraries; and transportation.