By Kenneth C. Rossignol

ST. MARY’S TODAY

LEONARDTOWN (Nov. 3, 2009) --- A public hearing for the purpose of reviewing legislative proposals will take place today and the most significant of the items will be a proposed $25 million bond bill sought by the St. Mary’s Board for the purpose of building a new $13.2 million library.

The library is destined to be built on a part of the controversial Hayden Farm tract located outside of the town limits of Leonardtown.

On Monday, the State awarded a $750,000 grant for the design of the building, which will include a café, day care and large atriums.

While St. Mary’s County goes about building a new multi-million library for Leonardtown in spite of a fine building already serving the needs of the community in a location that is accessible by pedestrians, state employees are being laid off, furloughed and having their salaries reduced.

Taxes have continued to be raised by the present Board of Commissioners while property owners have seen the value of their properties drop. 

The public has become irate over the Hayden Farm deal which the St. Mary’s Commissioners pushed through by holding backroom discussions on the purchase and finally held a public hearing on Christmas Eve last December.

The $5.3 million the Board paid to the Hayden family was well in excess of two appraisals of the property. 

A builder had walked away from the purchase of the property at $3.5 million due to the economic downturn but like complete fools, the Board, led by St. Mary’s Commissioner Tommy Mattingly (D. Leonardtown) rushed in to pay nearly $2 million more than the figure the builder had turned down.

A good part of the land bought by the county can’t be used and issues of chemical cleanup and undiscovered graves may cause there to be great expense in excavating contaminated soils and reinterring graves to a cemetery.

In spite of the fabulous price paid to the Hayden’s, they were able to keep the front parcel along the highway for future commercial use, continue farming the land and even keep possession of a house on the property at a rate not put out for public bid.

As a further insult to the taxpayers, the Board even promised to allow the Hayden family to name a future school on the site.

But now the county is still continuing a spending spree which has seen a building approved to house hazmat trailers obtained by the county through homeland security grants, the purchase of the Beavan tract for $750,000 which bailed out a developer who had no one else to sell it to and was destined to lose the land in a tax sale.

The State of Maryland recently cut $6 million in funding to St. Mary’s County and more cuts are likely but like drunken sailors the St. Mary’s Board is singing ‘ho, ho, and a bottle of rum’.

The Board and Delegates, Wood, O’Donnell and Bohanan, along with Sen. Roy Dyson, will hold the hearing in the public meeting room of the Chesapeake Building at Leonard Hall Governmental Center at 6:30 pm.

The legislative proposals range from the mundane to the insane. They are:

--To provide tax incentives for current homeowners who reduce their carbon footprint by installing alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and/or geo-thermal systems. 

--To encourage financial institutions to provide lower interest loans for green construction and green add-ons to already existing buildings that will be built to specifications resulting in a low carbon footprint.

--To provide tax incentives for individuals and businesses that install wind farms on their property for use in producing electricity. 

--To reduce maintenance costs incurred by the State of Maryland by planting over grassy areas that need mowing with native wild flowers and meadow plants, which would reduce the fleet of mowers, weed-eaters, etc. and reemploy workers to other maintenance needs and to the green building trades.

--To limit Mortgage Interest deductions to $10,000 and property taxes to $2,500 for Maryland Income Tax purposes.

--To de-fund abortion coverage with state Medicaid dollars.

--To change allocation of state’s electoral votes reward to margin of victory.

--To clarify that licensed registered nurses, Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC) teachers, and supervisors who do not hold a teaching certificate will be included in the bargaining unit currently designated for teachers, administrators, and supervisors who do hold a teaching certificate. 

--To provide that the Education Association of St. Mary’s County could negotiate with the Board of Education of St. Mary’s to negotiate a provision that all employees who decline to join EASMC will pay their fair share of the costs of benefits that they receive. 

--To provide that the Collective Education Association of St. Mary’s County could negotiate with the Board of Education of St. Mary’s to negotiate a provision that all employees who decline to join CEASMC will pay their fair share of the costs of benefits that they receive. 

--To establish a limit on the number of Class A (off-sale) liquor licenses.

--To add a Corrections Officer’s Bill of Rights for St. Mary’s County.

--To revise Article 19, Section 37 to set December 31 as the deadline for St. Mary’s to file its financial report with the Department of Legislative Services.

--To request authority to issue $25 million in public facilities bonds.

--To extend House Bill 623, Chapter 336, by passing an extension of the termination date to June 30, 2015 which will allow the current senior tax credit program to continue without interruption.

--To enact a “keep right except to pass” law in Maryland.

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