Category:garrett county

MCHENRY — Some service stations in Garrett and Allegany counties are in the buffer area for the “Fuel Up Maryland” grant program that assures that fuels are available both for evacuation or home energy use during an energy emergency or disaster.

During a legislative meeting last month at Garrett College, Dick Bolt, Swanton resident indicated that he went around to all the gas stations in Garrett County and that none of the people he spoke with people had put in a request for the grant program. During Superstorm Sandy, Bolt wasn’t able to get gas because there wasn’t an emergency generator and county trucks couldn’t get fuel either.

The Maryland Service Station Energy Resiliency Grant Program is a $1.7 million capital investment program administered by the Maryland Energy Administration that provides funding support to prewire for backup power generation from portable generators, fixed generators, and/or batteries for service stations located within a half-mile of a federal/state highway emergency evacuation route, according to the MEA.

MEA is awarding grants of up to $25,000 per grant to Maryland service stations. Based on a recent survey of Maryland service stations conducted by an electrical contractor, the maximum grant amount is more than 60 percent of the total cost of the planning, design, wiring and installation of backup power generation at the majority of the service stations, according to MEA.

More here.

OAKLAND — The Garrett County Commission will decide the fiscal 2015 appropriation for the county’s public school system during a Tuesday meeting.

During a meeting in November, board of education members pleaded with commissioners for a funding number and Commission Chairman Robert Gatto, ex-officio member on the board, made a motion to designate $2.2 million to the board for fiscal 2015 with the amount to be reduced if funding is secured from the state. The motion died from a lack of a second. Also at that meeting, Commissioner Jim Raley indicated that he would like to wait until the Tuesday meeting to give the board a number because at that time the amount of state funding will be known.

During a meeting in Finzel in November to discuss the proposed closure of Route 40 Elementary, an accountant confirmed that the county doesn’t have $2.2 million to help the school system.

“We are going to have to dip into our coffers,” said  Jeff Conner of Fike, Conner & Associates CPAs, who looked at the county’s financials. “We do have some rainy day funds but it’s only going to buy us a couple years.”

The Garrett County financial forecast for fiscal 2015 looks bleak because it is facing a projected loss of $5.4 million. A previous estimate of a $2.5 million projected loss of real property tax revenue has increased by $700,000, to $3.2 million, based on the revision of assessable base calculations, according to Monty Pagenhardt, county administrator.

More here.

8:15 a.m. EST, December 11, 2013

I was particularly pleased to read Gregory Wilburn’s letter advocating for the state to rein in the use of road salt (“Road salt is killing Garrett County,” Dec. 7).

Sellers of road salt have long promoted it as a “cheap” solution to melt snow and ice. However, independent studies have shown that government use actually costs about $1,200 per ton in infrastructure damage — in addition to the upfront expense and shipping costs.

The studies flagged deteriorating infrastructure, polluted water sources and contaminated soil — all at taxpayers expense. If researchers had also calculated consumer damage costs — expensive vehicle corrosion, destroyed footwear, deaths to dogs — the amount would be even higher.

OAKLAND — The Garrett County financial forecast for fiscal 2015 looks bleak due to the fact that the county is facing a total projected loss of $5.4 million, according to a news release.

A previous estimate of a $2.5 million projected loss of real property tax revenue has increased by $700,000, to $3.2 million, based on the revision of assessable base calculations, according to Monty Pagenhardt, county administrator. On Nov. 30, the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation produced valued assessable base calculations that confirmed the projected loss in real property tax revenue. This additional loss, coupled with the loss of $2.2 million in revenue for the Garrett County Public School System, equates to a total projected loss of $5.4 million.

The contraction of property tax revenue over the past three fiscal years equates to a loss of actual revenue of $2.8 million or 5.85 percent, according to a news release.

At this point there is nothing that can be done to alleviate the dire financial loss, according to Pagenhardt.

More here.

A Miami man and a western Maryland woman won the 10th running of the Palm Beach Marathon on Sunday morning.

Bryan Sharkey, 26, of Miami crossed the finish line first with an unofficial time of 2 hours, 43 minutes, 46 seconds.

Jennifer Sober, 40, of Deep Creek Lake, Md., was first in the women’s field with a time of 3:24:09.

The race — which took runners 26.2 miles from West Palm Beach to Lantana and back — took place on a humid day with temperatures in the mid-70s and and periods of light rain.

Sober said the weather was the warmest of any of the 17 marathons she has run. Because of the heat, she decided to start out slow to conserve energy and to speed up later.

“It was my first strategic marathon,” Sober said.

More here.

FINZEL — An accountant confirmed that Garrett County doesn’t have $2.2 million to help the school system when County Commissioner Jim Raley met with concerned citizens at the Finzel Fire Hall on Thursday about the proposed closing of Route 40 Elementary and two other schools.

The county doesn’t have $2.2 million this year and won’t have it in the future, according to Jeff Conner of Fike, Conner & Associates CPAs, who looked at the county’s financials.

“We are going to have to dip into our coffers. We do have some rainy day funds but it’s only going to buy us a couple years,” said Conner.

One citizen asked how commission chairman Robert Gatto came up with $2.2 million that he motioned to give to the board of education to close the funding gap during a commission meeting Tuesday and asked if that money was part of the county’s maintenance of effort.

More info here.