University of Maryland College Park Office of Executive Programs
Newswire Week 15 (1/06-1/12)
LOCAL
Robey Eyes Transfer Tax to Help Schools Out The Washington Post _ January 09, 2003, Thursday http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27576-2003Jan8.html
	Howard desperately needs more money to help build schools and add classrooms, County Executive James N. Robey (D) says. So Robey, as expected, announced Monday that he will ask Howard's General Assembly delegation this year to seek an increase in the county's transfer tax. Robey's proposal to raise the tax from 1 percent of real estate sales to 1.5 percent comes as the Board of Education is seeking a record $ 86.3 million for school construction and renovation, about $ 31 million more than it received from the county in this year's budget. Robey's plan would raise an additional $ 10 million a year, earmarked for school construction. Whether the proposal will be embraced by county legislators still isn't clear. At no time is the county government watched more closely by its residents than during a snowstorm when workers try to clear the roads quickly. Confident of its performance, Howard County is showcasing its plow performance on the Internet, at www.co.ho.md.us. During a storm, the site will present a color-coded street map indicating which roads in the county have been plowed and salted. The map, which is updated every 13 minutes, even pinpoints where the plows are.
Council Weighs Higher Builder Fees The Washington Post _ January 09, 2003, Thursday http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27874-2003Jan8.html
	With the state legislature back in session and the County Council scheduled to reconvene next week, the stage is set for the next round in the ongoing battle over Prince George's school construction and residential growth. "Never has there been a bigger political football than the nexus of new development and school overcrowding," said council Chairman Peter A. Shapiro (D-Brentwood). But this time, Shapiro is urging his fellow politicians to put the politics on hold. He said he hopes that politics will take a back seat to policy as the nine-member council -- with five new members and two others elected earlier last year -- confronts the issue. "There is common ground here," he said. "We can get all our needs met, so long as we focus on policy and minimize the politics." The need, all sides agree, is great. With Maryland facing a severe budget shortfall, the amount of state money for Prince George's new school construction has been slashed, from $ 35 million to $ 4 million. The reduction is especially tough in Prince George's, which only recently began to catch up after years of building no new schools, even as enrollment climbed to 135,000 students. So the county must look for other funding. Because county residents have for years limited local revenues with TRIM, the voter-imposed property tax cap, officials are mainly looking at increased fees on new homes.
ACROSS THE NATION
California
Davis: Plan will help economy before expected turnaround Scripps Howard News Service _ January 07, 2003, Tuesday http://www.shns.com/frontdoor/download.php?item_id=DAVIS-CONSTRUCTION-01-07-03&item_type=sto&file=%2Fstories%2Fview-story.php%3Fslug=DAVIS-CONSTRUCTION-01-07-03
	Gov. Gray Davis on Tuesday defended his plans to speed the availability of $20 billion in bonds voters approved last year, saying the move could create 368,000 construction jobs in California by the end of the year. Republican lawmakers earlier this week criticized what the governor has dubbed his "Build California" plan, saying it does little to stimulate long-term job growth in the private sector or to address the spending patterns that created a budget deficit the governor estimates at $35 billion. The construction jobs Davis expects to create might last a year, some slightly longer. But the governor said economists predict the economy will pick up again by late 2004. "What I think makes more sense is to provide a bridge between then and now." Much of the California's economic woes come from a budgeting process that relies heavily on state income tax on stocks as well as earnings. Capital gains revenue has plunged since its peak in 2000. And unemployed dot-com workers in Northern California likely won't be aided by these construction jobs. However, the governor said existing unionized construction work is beginning to slow, and that there will no shortage of available workers to take on new jobs.
Florida
School district to save by refinancing Press Journal _ January 8, 2003, Wednesday http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/pj_local_news/article/0,1651,TCP_1121_1658544,00.html
	The Indian River County School District will save about $2 million by refinancing its debt, which will reduce the mileage by 10 cents. District officials signed papers Monday to refinance $17.6 million in bonds that it sold in the 1990s to fund school construction. This adds to the $24.8 million the district refinanced in July. Linda Robertson, assistant superintendent of finance for the district, said the shift is similar to homeowners refinancing their mortgages. "It's just simply efficiency. We wanted to be as debt free as possible," she said. "Our goal was to save a million...we were very pleased to double that." In addition to saving about $2.2 million, the district will be able to pay off its debt two years earlier than expected, in 2011 instead of 2013. While the district will not see savings in the form of money for more teachers or buildings, homeowners will see a drop in mileage, the tax they pay based on the value of their houses. Mileage for the district for fiscal 2003 is $8.76 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The rate will drop to $8.66 per $1,000 with the refinancing. Debt service is paid by a portion of this tax.
Rhode Island
School board decries Mayor Menard's criticism The Providence Journal _ January 9, 2003, Thursday http://www.projo.com/blackstone/content/projo_20030109_wsc9.b58b9.html
	Echoing a long-standing dispute over state reimbursements for school building projects, School Committee members responded last night to warnings from Mayor Susan D. Menard that any further district projects should not be pursued. In a recent letter to city education officials, Menard expressed "concern and displeasure" over what she termed the School Committee's "unilateral decision to proceed with the construction of major additions" at the Globe Park and Leo A. Savoie Elementary Schools. She asserts that she would withhold payment to contractors if a new school construction project gets under way. Menard, citing possible cuts in state reimbursements for school projects due to state deficit projections, warned further that her administration was "not prepared to implement a substantial tax increase next year to cover any operational Education Department shortfall because you have chosen to expend your surplus funds unwisely." School Board member Michael M. Lavigne said last night that he was "very disappointed" and "frustrated" with Menard's assertions about Education Department mismanagement, which he said were "simply not true." This simmering dispute between the city and the School Department involves proposed 10-classroom addition projects to the Globe Park and Savoie schools that were initially planned to be funded from an anticipated surplus from the $14.9-million school construction bond back in 1999. Lavigne asserts that Menard was aware "from the beginning" that the recently completed 1999 bond-issue projects were not the concluding steps in updating the entire district's outdated facilities.
Tennessee
Board cheers audit, calls it ‘blueprint’ for paring building costs, bureaucracy The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) _ January 10, 2003 Friday http://newgomemphis.com/newgo/core/archives.htm
	City school board members applauded Thursday evening an audit that found the school system could save more than $114 million with changes in construction and bureaucracy, calling the document a map for the school system's future. Officials with MGT of America dissected the system over several months and found the district was particularly lax in oversight of school construction and budgeting. Auditors found several new school construction contracts going anywhere from 10 percent to 122 percent over budget, and found schools being built at per-square-foot costs that were sometimes $100 over industry standards. Controlling school construction by placing 16 schools on year-round schedules, consolidating classes and schools with anemic enrollment and beginning to thin layers of bureaucracy at the central office would translate into more than $7 million in savings for the 2003-2004 budget year, according to the report. The recommendations range from how to handle the school system's budget more efficiently to new program development that would improve accountability and fit in with federal mandates from the No Child Left Behind Act. Some of the audit's highest-profile recommendations include: Creating an early childhood division. Consolidating classes with too few students. Reducing the size of planned middle and high schools.

Articles compiled by Sujin Bae

Graduate assistant for the School Construction Funding Project

Van Munching Hall University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-1821

poissone@wam.umd.edu