maryland – Page 24 – Jay's Real Estate Blog

Md. Transportation Secretary Reports "Good News" About State's Economy

Support the Republican Newspaper! It’s only $9.95/year for the online edition!

Oct. 7, 2010

Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary Beverley Swaim-Staley said she had “a little bit of good news to share” during her department’s annual meeting with Garrett County officials and residents last Friday morning at the courthouse in Oakland.

Each fall, transportation and highway officials visit every county in the state to present their six-year Consolidated Transportation Program draft and to review local issues.

Swaim-Staley said Maryland had a “good summer.” She pointed to such recent “transportation indicators” as increases in passenger counts at BWI Airport, goods moving through the Port of Baltimore, commercial traffic going through Maryland toll facilities, and vehicle titling tax revenue as signs the state’s economy is improving.

“We anticipated there would be a turnaround, and we are seeing that,” the secretary said. “So, hopefully, we can grow, based upon that good news.”

She noted that two years ago her capital budget was cut by 30 percent, or $2.5 billion. But $650 million in stimulus funding enabled the DOT to keep up with its safety and systems preservation programs.

Swaim-Staley said $8 million of that federal money was used for highway improvements on state roads in Garrett County. The county itself received $1.2 million for its resurfacing projects. Garrett Transit was awarded $.5 million for transportation.

Neil Pedersen, state highway administrator, reported that the Rt. 219/Oakland bypass project was still on hold until the economy improves. He noted that all the planning for the 2.4-mile project was completed, while the engineering portion was 85 percent finished.

Pedersen added that all but three properties needed for the project have been purchased.

Read the rest here.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Deep Creek Do It All specializes in cleaning services in Garrett County & @ Deep Creek Lake. Give them a call (301-501-0217) or visit the website – competitive rates and quality results from a locally owned & operated company!

State has new website tool for job seekers

Associated Press Associated Press Wed Sep 22, 2010, 07:54 AM EDT

— ANNAPOLIS (AP) — Maryland has launched a new tool on a website to help people find jobs.

Gov. Martin O’Malley on Tuesday announced an expansion of the Maryland Workforce Exchange. It brings together job search websites, employer websites and every job posting in Maryland in one place.

The announcement comes as the U.S. Labor Department announced that Maryland’s unemployment rate rose from 7.1 percent in July to 7.3 percent in August.

Republican Robert Ehrlich, O’Malley’s opponent in the November election, said creating a website isn’t enough after four years in office.

The Maryland Workforce Exchange identifies advertised Maryland jobs by industry, location and how to apply.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Garrett nears OK for Heritage Area

Chamber of Commerce will manage county’s plan
Megan Miller
Cumberland Times-News

— OAKLAND — Garrett County took a significant step Tuesday toward to having some of its sites designated part of Maryland’s 12th — and possibly final — certified Heritage Area.

The Maryland Heritage Areas program is intended to help communities use their local culture, history and natural resources to develop a tourism trade that will strengthen their economies.

The entire county was named a recognized heritage area by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority in 2003. But the process to become a certified heritage area is extensive.

On Tuesday the county commission approved the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce as the managing entity for the county’s Heritage Area Maintenance Plan, which is the cornerstone of the process.

The plan is still in development, but will basically lay out the county’s Heritage Area goals and specific steps and strategies for reaching them.

An advisory group made up of representatives from several county agencies has been working for more than a year, with the aid of a consultant, on the early phases of the process.

In Garrett County, the Heritage Area will include not only historical sites, but also sites like Spruce Forest Artisan Village that are important culturally, according to Peggy Jamison, a member of the group.

“This is a discussion of the sites and what we could do to link them, improve them, add to them,” Jamison told the commission. “The plan is a working plan.”

Canal Place in Allegany County is one of just 11 certified heritage areas in the state.

The MHAA has awarded more than $21 million in financial assistance and leveraged approximately $73.5 million in non-state funds for heritage projects statewide since it was created in 1996, according to a news release from the agency.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

More on fish kills in Maryland

The Maryland Department of the Environment is mandated by Environmental Article Section 4-405 (c) to oversee the investigation of fish kill incidents throughout the State.

The Fish Kill Investigation Section manages and coordinates the multi-agency, statewide fish kill response program. Staff is on call during the regular workweek and on weekends, holidays and after normal working hours to ensure that all fish kill reports are promptly addressed.

The presence of dead or distressed fish may indicate that a toxic substance has entered the waterway. For this reason, it is very important to quickly ascertain the facts, announce the findings, and institute corrective measures if practical.

Fish kills also result from a combination of natural and human induced stresses in the environment. Several elements may combine and act synergistically to overload stress tolerance levels and induce a fish kill. Typical stress factors may include population stress (crowding), spawning stress, reduced food abundance, excessive temperatures or sudden temperature change, parasite burdens, high or low pH, low oxygen levels caused by sewage or excessive algae (fueled by nutrient enrichment), salinity stress, chronic toxin levels (including metals and organics), and drought. Each incident is categorized according to the dominant stress factor detected.

More from the State website.
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350 Deep Creek Lake Info, Business Directories, Classified Ads, Events & more! Advertise on www.DeepCreekAlive.com!

All Garrett County Schools Achieve Adequate Yearly Progress On MSAs

Support the Republiucan Newspaper! It’s only $9.95/year for the online edition!

Jul. 22, 2010

The Maryland State Department of Education recently released system level results regarding Maryland School Assessment (MSA) and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Results show that all Garrett County elementary and middle schools achieved AYP. This indicates that a significant number of students scored at the proficient and advanced levels in reading and mathematics on the MSA and Alternate MSA.

This also shows that no schools in Garrett County have been identified by the MSDE as needing improvement. As well as the overall population, in order to meet the federal guidelines of No Child Left Behind, students in specified subgroups, including racial/ethnic classifications, students eligible for free or reduced price meals, and students with special needs must also meet the AYP goals. According to the test results, all of these groups of students in Garrett County successfully met their goals.

“The [Board of Education] members and I are so proud of our students, teachers, staff, principals, and central office administrators for this outstanding performance,” said Dr. Wendell Teets, superintendent of GC schools. “Our students [lost] to snow 17 days of instruction immediately before the MSA testing, and still every school made AYP with no school in any type of improvement status.”

MSA math scores at all elementary and middle school grade levels improved in 2010 compared to 2009 results. Math at the 8th grade level had a 10.4% gain from last year, which is recorded as the biggest improvement at any level. Seventh grade tests had 90.4% of the students scoring proficient/advanced. All other grade levels scored in the 80% to 88% proficient range on the MSA math exam.

In reading, grades 4, 6, and 8 improved in 2010 compared to 2009, with grade 8 having the largest percentage gain of 13.8%. In grades 3, 5, and 7 scores dropped by less than 2 percentage points from last year. Grades 4, 5, and 6 had more than 90% of the students scoring proficient/advanced in reading.

Read the rest here.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350 Deep Creek Lake Info, Business Directories, Classified Ads, Events & more! Advertise on http://www.deepcreekalive.com/!

Maryland Park Quest becomes an outdoors marathon – Balt. Sun Blog

Be on the look out for Candus Thomson, the popular ‘outdoors girl’ blogger from the Baltimore Sun. She is embarking on Maryland Park Service’s Park Quest, starting Wednesday at Swalllow Falls. (from the blog):

The premise, as sketched on a grease-infused paper plate, is fairly simple. Complete the Maryland Park Service’s Park Quest—a free popular summer-long activity that has attracted 750 families this year—in one week. That’s 24 parks, stretching from Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland to Assateague Island on the Atlantic Coast, in seven days.

I’ll blog about it at the end of each day.

Park Quest is part-hike, part-scavenger hunt, part-geocache, with a little history and geography lesson sprinkled on top for good measure.

The theme for this year’s event is, Where a Family Becomes a Team. Teams must include at least one adult and one child 16 years of age or younger, but can be as large as 10 people to include extended family. Teams must complete at least 10 Quests by Sept. 6 to be eligible for the Park Quest Finale on Sept. 11 at the Hammerman Area of Gunpowder Falls State Park, where they could win camping gear, kayaks and vacation packages.

Read the rest here.

MSDE Allocates $2.8 Million To State Schools

Support the Republiucan Newspaper! It’s only $9.95/year for the online edition!

Jul. 1, 2010

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) announced that 207 schools across the state, including eight in Garrett County, will share $2.8 million in state funds to participate in the Maryland Meals for Achievement (MMFA) classroom breakfast program during the 2010-2011 school year. The Garrett County schools include Accident, Crellin, Dennett Road, Friendsville, Grantsville, Kitzmiller, and Yough Glades elementary schools, and Bloomington School.
“The importance of good nutrition has recently gained national attention. Maryland Meals for Achievement is an easy, inexpensive way to fuel students’ minds for academic success. Students who participate in the in-classroom breakfast program have fewer health issues and improved concentration, behave better in class, and score higher on standardized tests,” said state superintendent of schools Nancy S. Grasmick.

In addition to academic benefits, breakfast has health benefits as well. Eating breakfast has been shown to reduce the risk of obesity. One study found that adolescents who eat breakfast tend to have a lower body mass index than those who do not eat breakfast. Other studies found that students who eat breakfast consume more essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals such as calcium, dietary fiber, and protein.

With the school breakfast program, students have the opportunity to eat school breakfast in their classrooms, and breakfast is incorporated into the academic day. Students do not pay for the meal, regardless of family income. Schools with MMFA have an average daily breakfast participation of 70 percent compared to schools without the program, which serve a traditional cafeteria breakfast and have an average daily breakfast participation of 10 percent.

There are efforts under way to increase breakfast participation in all Maryland schools, according to Grasmick. The school breakfast program is one of several nutrition programs included in the Governor’s Partnership to End Childhood Hunger in Maryland. This partnership seeks to eliminate childhood hunger by 2015, a goal that is consistent with President Obama’s efforts.

Read the rest here.

98 Md. high schools ranked in U.S. survey

State’s percentage is highest on magazine’s top-1,600 high school list
By Liz Bowie, The Baltimore Sun

Maryland claimed 98 spots on Newsweek’s annual list of top high schools in the country, and no other state had a higher percentage of its schools make the list.

More than half of the state’s 185 high schools were considered good enough to be ranked, according to state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick.

The rating system, developed by Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews, includes an index that measures the number of graduates who take challenging Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes and exams. Because Maryland has been placing a priority on training teachers and getting students to take the exams for the past decade, public schools tend to do well on this ranking system.

Only 6 percent, or 1,600, of the 27,000 high schools in the country make the list.

Read the rest here.

Most properties sold, for now, at tax auction

Most properties sold, for now, at tax auction
By ANDREW SCHOTZ
June 8, 2010
andrews@herald-mail.com

WASHINGTON COUNTY — Nearly 200 Washington County properties were sold at a tax-debt auction Tuesday, although owners still can reclaim them.

The properties include the Red Byrd Restaurant in Keedysville and two downtown Hagerstown parcels connected to Demcore Development.

The home of former Hagerstown Mayor Steven T. Sager also was sold.

Bidders won’t take possession of the properties for some time, if at all.

Read the rest here.

No “Sales Tax” on Home Sales in Recently Enacted Health Reform Bill

From MDRealtor.org:

Contrary to reports and newspaper articles circulating widely on the Internet, there is not a “sales tax” or “transfer tax” on the sale of a home included in the recently signed health care reform bill. The analysis underlying these reports is incorrect.

Beginning in 2013, the health bill imposes a new 3.8% Medicare tax on “net investment income” earned by taxpayers with Adjusted Gross Income of more than $200,000 for individuals or more than $250,000 for married couples. Since capital gains are included in the definition of net investment income, a tax obligation might result from the sale of real property. In the case of the sale of a principal residence, the existing $250,000/$500,000 exclusion from capital gains on the sale of a principal residence remains unchanged. Therefore, even when the AGI limits are met, the new tax would apply only to the gain realized on a home sale in excess of the $250K/$500K existing primary home exclusion that pushes the filer’s AGI over the $200K/$250K adjusted gross income limit.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Category: maryland

Md. Transportation Secretary Reports "Good News" About State's Economy

State has new website tool for job seekers

Garrett nears OK for Heritage Area

More on fish kills in Maryland

All Garrett County Schools Achieve Adequate Yearly Progress On MSAs

Maryland Park Quest becomes an outdoors marathon – Balt. Sun Blog

MSDE Allocates $2.8 Million To State Schools

98 Md. high schools ranked in U.S. survey

Most properties sold, for now, at tax auction

No “Sales Tax” on Home Sales in Recently Enacted Health Reform Bill

My Location

Deep Creek Media

Stay Connected