Maryland’s municipalities need their highway user money, as well as additional ways to raise revenues
By Gary Comegys
October 11, 2010
What if 95 percent of your road went unplowed during a snowstorm this winter? Or if only 5 percent of a pothole in front of your office was filled?
Members of the Maryland Municipal League — composed of 157 incorporated cities and towns and two special taxing districts in Maryland — have been dealing with a 95 percent cut in funding for road maintenance since early 2010. Now, as 2012 budget decisions are under way, many local leaders are left with few options to make ends meet and continue to be able to provide these essential, quality-of-life transportation services.
All municipalities have been affected, but hardest hit have been Maryland’s historic small towns.
In the mountains of Garrett County, Deer Park Mayor Donald E. Dawson took it upon himself to plow his town’s streets after last winter’s debilitating snowstorms because the town did not have the money for a contractor to perform the work. Elsewhere in Garrett County, Friendsville has turned off half of its streetlights, and Loch Lynn Heights heated its Town Hall with a wood stove last winter to save on energy costs — just to keep operating for residents.
