Thursday, April 23, 2015

Where Howard County's Going, We Won't Need Roads

In third paragraph of Amanda Yeager's article about the FY16 Capital and Operating Budgets, we learn a concerning fact - there has been no money allocated for road resurfacing in this year's budget.  Not a little.  Not "some, but not enough".  Zero.  As in, "I have more money budgeted for road resurfacing than the Howard County government."

You can find a more detailed review here:
Click to Enlarge
DPW Director Jim Irvin was also quoted as saying the last time road resurfacing had been completely defunded was under County Executive Hugh Nichols, who served from 1978 to 1986.

Kittleman "administration officials" explained that the complete absence of funding for road resurfacing was a matter of transparency, describing this line item as having been raided by previous Executives.  So we can't have roads and transparency?  Why not just promise not to touch it? I don't get this explanation.  (Speaking of transparency, when can we expect to see the dollars and cents of how the County saved $15.8 million in FY15?)

We just had a fairly severe winter and I presume I'm not the only one who has found pot-holes along county roads.  How is this going to be addressed?  We can have the best school system in the world, but it's not worth a dime if your child's bus pops a flat on the way there.

That's all for today.  Have a great Thursday doing what you love!  And don't forget to do your research on Village candidates before this Saturday's vote!  I'll be providing a run down tomorrow.