Howard Co. Budget Plan Is 7% Bigger; Proposal Boosts Services Without Raising Taxes
Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker, relying on a modest recovery from a two-year recession, proposed a $289 million operating budget yesterday that calls for two new schools, two new libraries, a public safety facility and new government service centers.</br></br>Ecker's proposed budget for the coming year is 7 percent larger than Howard's current spending plan, making the growth in the 1993- 94 budget unusual in the Washington area.</br></br>In addition to the schools and libraries, the budget calls for a police and fire station, two new nutrition sites for the elderly and an addition to the jail.</br></br>The budget also has a $3.1 million contingency fund to cover a 3 percent cost-of-living raise for all county and school employees on Jan. 1. The money may be spent only if local government collects more revenue from income taxes than it had anticipated.</br></br>The proposed salary increase would be less than what school officials had agreed to pay their teachers, but Ecker, a former school administrator, said the Board of Education should be able to make up the difference by cutting other items in the school budget.