Local legislation offered on slots, alcohol licenses
One bill would allow up to five slot machines for area nonprofits
Matthew Bieniek Cumberland Times-News
CUMBERLAND — Several bills relating to Garrett and Allegany counties have recently been filed by Sen. George Edwards and Delegate Wendell Beitzel. One of the more far-reaching bills, Senate Bill 466, filed by Edwards, would allow nonprofit organizations in both counties to have up to five slot machines.
Edwards filed the bill after requests from veterans groups during public delegation meetings before the General Assembly session opened last month.
At that meeting, John M. Martin, a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Oldtown, was among those supporting the idea.
“We would like to be on a level playing field with the other organizations in the state of Maryland,” Martin said. The machines are already allowed in some counties on the Eastern Shore, he said. “It would be another source of income for the county,” he said. The added funds would help the VFW and the rest would be distributed to the many charities the VFW supports, he said.
Senate Bill 205 tweaks the already existing “Correctional Officers Bill of Rights” with language already used for Cecil County and St. Mary’s County officers.
Essentially, the bill allows local authorities to transfer or reassign officers as long as the transfer is not punitive and is in the best interests of managing the facility, according to the Department of Legislative Services.
Beitzel has filed several bills relating to Garrett County.
House Bill 222 would give the Garrett County Board of License Commissioners discretion in handling offenses relating to nudity or sexual displays that occur at a licensed establishment.
The board, who asked Beitzel to file the bill, is the authority for issuing or suspending liquor licences in the county.
Current law requires the revocation of the license without regard to the circumstances.
If the bill passes, the board could decide on less severe penalties than revocation if the circumstances warranted a lesser penalty. Beitzel said the issue is rare in Garrett County.
House Bill 224 would give Garrett County commissioners the ability to raise the maximum hotel rental tax rate to six percent, up from the current five percent maximum. Edwards has filed a companion bill — Senate Bill 333.
In fiscal year 2009, those taxes raised $1,426,900 for the county. Garrett County commissioners asked Beitzel to introduce the bill. Those funds are used for tourist promotions and other county projects, Beitzel said. The delegate emphasized that the bill does not raise the tax, but does give commissioners the option.
House Bill 512 allows the Garrett County Sanitary District to charge a late fee for unpaid water and sewer bills.
Currently, no late fee may be assessed, Beitzel said. The only option for late bills has been to turn off the water, but in the county, many homes are on public sewer but not public water.
While a lien can be placed against the property, it is usually a lengthy process to get a payment. It also would allow the district to require payment of those fees before reconnecting water service. The rate of the late fees would be set by Garrett County commissioners.
Contact Matthew Bieniek at mbieniek@times-news.com
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Unseasonably warm Garrett hunting trip
Posted: Sunday, February 5, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 10:41 pm, Sat Feb 4, 2012.
By Andy Aughenbaugh Times Outdoors Columnist | 0
“Where is all the snow?” I asked myself.
Driving west on Interstate 68 and turning off onto Md. 495 in Garrett County, the mountains of snow banks I am accustomed to seeing during this time of the year, where not present. A mere 3-6 inches of snow dusted the ground. Even the evening temperature was not the single digits typical of January in Garrett County.
The next morning we awoke to a skim of ice on the few inches of snow covering the ground. The trees would have glistened beautifully in the early sunrise. That is if the sun was out. A dense fog hung in the sky instead. There would be no finding direction by following the sun on this morning. We would have to pay attention to and follow the terrain if we wanted to keep from getting lost.
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Let it snow (please?): Ski resorts hoping the rest of winter is more wintry
Sunday, February 05, 2012
By Lawrence Walsh, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Unseasonably warm weather across the Midwest and Northeast this winter has dealt a blow to local and regional resorts for the first half of the snowsports season, delivering less natural snow and sustained snowmaking temperatures than in most years.
Still resort officials at Seven Springs, Hidden Valley, Wisp and Holiday Valley are staying the course, making snow at every opportunity and offering all-inclusive, money-saving packages to fill rooms and slopes.
And they’re crossing their fingers for more “normal” winter weather for the rest of the season.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207930-287.stm#ixzz1loKhYYjx
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County's Liability Insurance Premium Decreases By 18%
Feb. 2, 2012
The Board of Garrett County Commissioners’ annual liability insurance premium decreased by 18% between fiscal year 2010-2011 and fiscal year 2011-2012, county administrator Monty Pagenhardt announced on Tuesday.
The Local Government Insurance Trust (LGIT), the county’s liability insurer, offers membership, longevity, and loss control credits toward the annual premium. The credits for FY 2011-12 accounted for $98,639 in savings to the county, according to Pagenhardt.
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“The premium is allocated yearly to the county departments, and the credits were deducted from the department’s portion of the annual insurance premium,” he said in a press release.
LGIT also offered for the first time a $1 million limit for excess liability at no additional charge to entities with primary liability coverage, providing additional security for liability coverage.
“This saved the county an average of $8,000 on the annual insurance premium,” Pagenhardt said. “Additionally, claims and losses for liability have been down for all county departments, which contributes to the decrease of the insurance premiums. County management and employees keep safety in mind, and this shows with the decline of claims and lowered premiums.”
He noted that the county has not been advised by LGIT or other insurance agents of any major increased to the insurance premiums for FY 2012-13.
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Beitzel, Edwards Pursuing Natural Gas And Oil Leasing Legislation
Feb. 2, 2012
Del. Wendell R. Beitzel (R–Dist. 1A) and Sen. George C. Edwards (R–Dist. 1) announced yesterday they will offer legislation regarding the recordation of natural gas and oil leases during the 2012 Maryland General Assembly session in Annapolis.
“Based largely on discussions with local officials and concerned citizens, we believe that the current statutes regarding the recordation of leases for natural gas and oil should be addressed this session,” Beitzel said.
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One of the measures being pursued by the legislators from western Maryland, who represent almost exclusively the area in which the Marcellus shale formation is found, would require court clerks to file an intake sheet with natural gas and oil leases. Current law provides that a clerk cannot reject an otherwise completed lease based solely on the lack of an intake sheet.
“These sheets will be used by the folks in the land records department to properly index the properties leased by natural gas and oil companies,” Edwards said. “With this important change in the law, people can more easily find these records.”
Another bill being offered by Beitzel and Edwards would require the recordation of leases of oil and natural gas, and stipulate general information to be included within the leasing documents. Other states, including Ohio, already have similar provisions on the books, according to the local lawmakers.
“It has been reported to us that some individuals who have entered into these leases were caught off guard with some of the provisions found in the fine print that bind them indefinitely to the lease provisions,” Beitzel noted. “Though legislation cannot be crafted to safeguard everyone from every provision, this measure will put into place some very important protections for landowners who enter into these leases.”
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City principals among lowest-paid school leaders in state
By Erica L. Green, The Baltimore Sun
5:54 p.m. EST, February 2, 2012
Even as Baltimore principals have been given an unprecedented amount of responsibility over the past four years under schools CEO Andrés Alonso, their average salary has remained among the lowest in the state.
The average salary for city principals this school year is about $108,000, just $2,800 more than their pay in 2008, according to an analysis of school system employee salaries obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act request by The Baltimore Sun.
That leaves city principals — who lead schools with the largest and most academically challenged populations in the state — behind most of their colleagues in the metropolitan area and only slightly above rural counties on the Eastern Shore…
…The highest-paid principals are in Montgomery County, which has an average salary of $131,000; the lowest is Garrett County, at $75,000. The state average is $114,700.
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Local Lawmakers' Bills Scheduled For Committee Review
Feb. 2, 2012
General Assembly committee hearings are under way in Annapolis for legislation proposed by state lawmakers. Bills introduced by Del. Wendell Beitzel and Sen. George Edwards will be reviewed during the next several weeks.
The House Appropriations Committee will hold a public hearing for Beitzel’s HB 121: “Dedicated Funds – Prohibition of Transfer – Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays 2010 Trust Fund and Bay Restoration Fund” on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 1 p.m. in Room 120, House Office Building.
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This bill would amend the Maryland State Constitution to prohibit the transfer of funds from the two major sources of revenue for bay cleanup efforts in the state.
“The Chesapeake By is a state treasure that needs to be protected, and the citizens of the state are paying to ‘save the bay,'” Beitzel said. “Therefore, the dedicated funds entrusted to the state need to be restricted for their intended purpose.”
Anyone wishing to testify on HB 121 must sign the witness register by 12:50 p.m. on the day of the hearing. Those who have written testimony are asked to submit 40 copies to the Appropriations Committee staff for distribution by 11 a.m. Persons interested in submitting testimony may contact Beitzel’s office at 800-492-7122, ext. 3435, for assistance.
The delegate noted that Gov. Martin O’Malley’s SB 240 would increase the “flush tax” from $30 to $60 for septic system users.
For those who are connected to municipal sewage treatment facilities, the fees will be based on the amount of water used. A $.90 fee is proposed to be placed for each 1,000 gallons for the first 2,000 gallons. Then an additional $1.25 would be charged for each 1,000 gallons thereafter. Under this scenario, Beitzel said, a family of four with an average daily water usage of 70 gallons per person (8,400 gallons/month) could see quadruple the flush tax fee from an original $30 per year to $180 per year.
Betizel noted that during the 2011 General Assembly session, O’Malley’s budget transferred $290 million from the Bay Restoration Fund and the Chesapeake & Atlantic Coastal Bays 2010 Trust Fund into the state’s general fund. The funds are to be replenished with general obligation bonds, which require additional interest costs and limit the amount of bond funds available for other state capital projects.
“If these funds were never raided, there would be no immediate need for a [flush fee] increase,” Beitzel said.
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Mild winter weather likely to save Garrett County money
Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — Garrett County will likely see savings as far as snow removal goes thanks to the mild winter.
The county is saving money on the cost of fuel and wear and tear on vehicles used to remove the snow, according to Jay Moyer, general roads superintendent.
The county allocates an estimated $400,000 in winter overtime and this is where they are now showing some savings, said Monty Pagenhardt, county administrator.
“Also, the weather is so hard to predict and we can be creative on our call-out times during the week, but if we go into snow removal operations on weekends or holidays there will be an additional cost,” said Pagenhardt in an email to the Times-News.
“There is still a savings but it’s not as great as it could be if the snow events occurred during the weekday during normal working hours,” said Moyer.
Even though there has been some overtime, there still has been significant savings for this fiscal year as opposed to fiscal 2011, due to scheduling, according to Pagenhardt.
The total overtime so far is $110,005; fiscal 2011 was $169,974.
The appropriate salaries and fringe benefits for all county employees is based on 40 hours per week for 52 weeks.
“We have experienced savings when compared to budgeted expenditures by being creative with our scheduling of employees,” said Pagenhardt. “The public and our employees need to realize that we have been very diligent to operate the county roads department and all other departments with less human and financial resources in an effort to provide quality public service in all areas of governmental obligations. We also have been successful in preserving and retaining jobs for our employees during very difficult financial times.”
The roads department watches the weather and plans ahead for snow storms; scheduling is adjusted accordingly, said Moyer.
“We make sure the roads are in passable condition as early as we can,” said Moyer.
The roads department is funded from the Garrett County general fund, according to Pagenhardt.
This fiscal year, $1.4 million was budgeted for snow removal, including materials, overtime and abrasives, which make up most of the budget. So far, the county has spent $641,390 on snow removal compared to $1.09 million at the same time last year.
The roads department is called out to treat the roads when there is an inch of accumulation, according to Moyer.
“We have to treat an inch of accumulation as if it were 6 to 8 inches because of freezing and icing effects,” said Moyer, who noted that if snow is left untreated, cars traveling on it can pack it down and turn it to ice.
Both Moyer and Pagenhardt agreed that this winter so far has been unseasonably mild.
“I do not recall as mild a winter for sure in my tenure with the county (16 years) or maybe since I have lived here,” said Pagenhardt.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com
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Technominds Prove Best In Maryland
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Feb. 2, 2012
Broad Ford Elementary’s First LEGO League Team, the Technominds, claimed the top prize in mechanical design last week after besting over 70 teams from across the state in the Maryland FLL Championship Tournament. The competition, for students ages 9 to 14, was held in the activities center of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The 10-player teams were asked to focus on team building, problem solving, creativity, and analytical thinking, while competing to solve an engineering challenge modeled after a real-world problem. The team’s members are pictured above, from left, with their trophies. In the first row are: Peyton Missimer, Zach Rohrbaugh, Jessica Storck, Will Meagher, Katie Catulle, and Parker Meyer. In the second row are: Nick Ponceroff, Carter Bowers, Jordan Rohrbaugh, and Jamie Kight. Standing in the back are team coaches Angie Meyer, Kathy Meagher, and Jenny Neville.
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A Crystal Wonderland
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The mountaintop was encased in ice over the past weekend, with a significant ice storm taking place early Saturday morning that turned the county into crystal. And even though the sun shone throughout the day on Sunday, the ice remained, creating views in every direction that were nothing short of stunning. This photo was of course taken near the Oakland train station, with an iced red berry in the foreground. The forecast is calling for a mixed bag of ice and rain early this weekend, turning to all snow on Sunday. Photo by Lisa Rook.
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