Published: March 26, 2008 09:25 am         

Local officials celebrate death of state land bill

CUMBERLAND - The House bill that could have eliminated annual payments from the Department of Natural Resources to counties for state land died in the House Environmental Matters Committee.

"I'm glad the committee saw the light and thought it was not a good thing to do," Sen. George Edwards, said of Friday's defeat of the bill. "I don't think (the supporters) realized the effect it would have on rural counties. ... The historical reason it was set up is because the state doesn't pay taxes (on its property)."

Edwards said that with the state land off the county tax rolls, the condition was set that counties would get 15 percent of income made from that land. Later, it was changed to counties that consist of more than a tenth state land would receive 25 percent of that income.

For Allegany County, this could affect almost $200,000 of the yearly budget, and nearly $1 million for Garrett.

Edwards said he didn't feel that the delegates who proposed the bill recognized that those amounts would be the equivalent of several million dollars in the less rural counties in the state.

"We needed that money to help balance our budget," Allegany County Commissioner Dale Lewis said. "We just couldn't afford to take the hit. We're thankful it got defeated."

On March 7, commissioners from both Allegany and Garrett counties along with other representatives spoke to the House Environmental Matters Committee in opposition of the bill.

"This was a very collaborative team effort," Delegate Wendell Beitzel said. "Senator Edwards, the commissioners and I all fought hard to defeat this very detrimental bill that confiscated revenue from the counties. I am happy to report that the bill was defeated in committee."

Garrett County Administrator Monty Pagenhardt said that county employees first heard word of the bill's defeat through a memo sent out from the Maryland State Park Service.

Edwards said that some people within the park service felt this was a loss of potential revenue for maintenance, but that during the General Assembly's special session, there had been definite efforts to ensure that the park service receives necessary funding.

Garrett County Commissioner Fred Holliday said the money would help the counties, particularly with the potential shortage in state funding for the upcoming fiscal year's budget.

"It paid for us to spend some time in Annapolis and work with the legislators," Holliday said. "It's going to help us considerably with our budget because it's close to $1 million a year we receive from that. With the budget deficit ahead of us, that could have been detrimental."

Holliday credited not only the work of the commissioners from both counties but also the cooperation of both Beitzel and Edwards.

Contact Sarah Moses at smoses@times-news.com.