Howard County Budget Comparison and Hearing Schedule.

Well, it is budget time in Howard County. The budget schedule is outlined in the Baltimore Sun (Budget hearings, work session set) and can also be found on the Howard County web site (http://www.co.ho.md.us/CountyCouncil/CC_BudgetCalendar.htm)

Tuesday, April 29, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.; continue at 7:00 p.m.
Public Hearing – Capital and Operating Budgets

Wednesday, April 30, 7:00 p.m.
Public Hearing – Operating Budget

The final vote is cureently scheduled for May 22nd.

How does Howard County’s budget compare with spending across the state? Well according to the Maryland Manual Online, and 2006 census numbers, the average spending per person is $2349.60. Howard County’s $1,325,373,662 ranks number one at $4,865 (and this does not count the Columbia Association CPRA or any HOA fees). A complete comparison by Maryland counties is shown in the attached graph below.

Columbia Town Center Master Plan to be presented Monday, April 28.

GGP will present a draft mater plan on Monday April 28th. The meeting will be at 7:00 PM at the Spear Center, 10275 Little Patuxent Parkway.

Information and past meeting presentations can be found at http://www.columbiatowncenter.info/

NHL Playoff Scheudle – Round 2 (as of 5/4).

The complete NHL round 2 schedule is at ESPN (2007-08 Stanley Cup playoffs — Second-round schedule)

Eastern Conference

No. 1 Montreal Canadiens vs. No. 6 Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers win series 4-1

Thursday, April 24 — Philadelphia at Montreal (Flyers 3 – Canadiens 4 O/T)
Saturday, April 26 — Philadelphia at Montreal (Flyers 4 - Canadiens 2)
Monday, April 28 — Montreal at Philadelphia (Canadiens 2 – Flyers 3)
Wednesday, April 30 — Montreal at Philadelphia (Canadiens 2 – Flyers 4)
Saturday, May 3 — Philadelphia at Montreal (Flyers 6 - Canadiens 4)

No. 2 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. No. 5 New York Rangers

Penguins win series 4-1

Friday, April 25 — NY Rangers at Pittsburgh (Rangers 4 – Penguins 5).
Sunday, April 27 — NY Rangers at Pittsburgh (Rangers 0 – Penguins 2).
Tuesday, April 29 — Pittsburgh at NY Rangers (Penguins 5 – Rangers 3)
Thursday, May 1 — Pittsburgh at NY Rangers (Penguins 0 – Rangers 3)
Sunday, May 4 — NY Rangers at Pittsburgh (Rangers 2 – Penguins 3 O/T).

Columbia Village Election Results (Updated 5/2 Wilde Lake, Hickory Ridge Results)

Well, the voters in Columbia Villages have spoken (winners in bold): The Columbia Flyer election guide (pdf) is here.

Dorsey’s Search:

There were three seats to be filled and three candidates. The results are as follows:

• Rob Sims: 53 votes
• Diane Turner: 54 votes
• Larry Winston: 51 votes

Harper’s Choice:

• Cindy Coyle – 315
• Lynda Maxwell – 200

Board of Directors

• Patti Petry – 428

Hickory Ridge:

Columbia Council: Miles Coffman

Village Board (5 Open Seats) (did not reach a quorum – there be a special meeting Monday May 5th @ 7:30 PM at the Hawthorn Center, 6175 Sunny Spring)

1. Michelle Wood – 110
2. Linda Hitzelberger – 105
3. Gregg Schwind – 96
4. John Bailey – 93
5. Nancy McCord – 92
6. Tom Louden – 91
7. David Zeiter – 81
8. Len Berkowitz – 51

Kings Contrivance:

• Lorraine Kelly
• Marguerite Walsh
• open

Long Reach:

(4 Candidates for 3 seats)

• Karen Hitcho – 378
• Josh Friedman – 351
• Ed Coleman – 290

(95 corporate votes we added to the three candidates receiving the most votes)

• William A. Taylor – 175

Oakland Mills:

(7 Candidates for 7 seats)

• Mary Kate Murray
• W.H. “Kriz: Krizmanich
• Abby Hendrix
• Karen Gray
• Marcia White
• Jim Alvey
• Michael McKenna

Columbia Council

• Alex Hekimian – 270
• Phillips Engelke – 262

(Thanks Iconic Xer).

Owen Brown:

No contested seats.

River Hill:

• Larry Blickman
• Todd Harrison
• open
• open

Town Center:

• Columbia Council: Suzanne Waller – 134

• Village Board: Jean Israel and Linda Wengel

Wilde Lake:

Results not posted yet – But from Columbia Compass (with a good narrative of some of the behind-the-scenes commentary on this race)

Columbia Council

• Philip Kirsch - 260
  
• Linda Odum – 225

Village Board (5 seats open)

• Vincent L. Marando – 345
• Mary Pivar – 324
• Lisa Mikkelsen – 292
• Elliott M. Simons – 279
• Bill Santos - 246

• Rhoda Toback – 220
• Christopher Tsien – 199
• Richard Madzel – 161

CO2 and Statistics

A reader and local scientists looked at Carbon Dioxide emissions and applied statistical systems to them, specifically the Correlation Coefficient.

Here are his findings:
Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 12:23 pm

Statistics of Climate Change – I downloaded and reviewed data for carbon emissions, atmospheric carbon dioxide (not ice core data), global temperatures, sunspot number, and solar irradiance. Using Excel spreadsheet statistics functions, I came up with the following correlation results:

Comparison Correlation Coefficient

CO2 Emissions vs. Temp. 0.85
CO2 Emissions vs. Atm CO2 -0.04
Atm CO2 vs. Temp. 0.26
Solar Irradiation vs. Temp 0.80
Sunspot Number vs. Temp 0.29

Correlation Coefficients (CC) range from -1 to 1. A CC of -1 is the strongest inverse relationship, while a CC of 1 is the strongest direct relationship. A CC of 0 is the complete absence of a relationship. Anything is basically up to user discretion; however, my standard is anything above >0.75 or <-0.75 is a strong relationship. All other CC values are various degrees of a weak relationship.

As you can see, the CO2 Emissions most closely correlate to temperature. However, CO2 Emissions do not correlate to atmospheric CO2 measurements. Furthermore, atmospheric CO2 measurements do not correlate to temperature. This last fact is true for recent and geologic time scales. So why do CO2 Emissions correlate to temperature — coincidence. The industrial age coincides with the end of the “Little Ice Age” from the late 1600s to about 1850 (widely accepted event). As a result, temperatures have been increasing naturally before the industrial age and continued during it.

However, solar irradiation tracks very closely to temperature (CC = 0.80). A review of solar irradiation graphs vs temperature graphs clearly indicates that all temperture minima and maxima of since 1850 (time period for which I have data) have coincided with solar irradiation fluctuations. The evidence sufficiently clear that anyone logical person can see that solar irradiation affects temperature to a much higher degree than CO2 ever could. You can see this phenomenom in late 20th and early 21st Century temperatures because, as reported, temperatures have been decreasing since 1998. Solar irradiation level have likewise been decreaseing.

Republican TaxInUs Maximus Rally – Saturday 4/12 11:45 AM – 2:00 PM

Unhappy with Gov. O’Malley, the Special Session and the General Assembly?

The Howard County Republican Club is holding a rally April 12th (Saturday) at 5550 Sterrett Place (Across from the Columbia Mall, near the Exxon station.) to celebrate TaxInUs Maximus Day. Stop by and show you support and you can receive either of the bumper stickers (shown below) to let the Governor and the General Assembly know your feelings.

You can also get more information or a bumper sticker from the Howard County Republican Club if you can’t make Saturday.

You can watch Tom D’Asto’s appearance on Fox 45 Tuesday morning here.

Hilliary – A view from the UK via the Belfast Telegraph.

Hilliary has said she will improve our international relations – well Mark Steel (You couldn’t make it up (unless you’re Hillary, that is)) must have them in a better mood already.

Her response to being caught lying to a military audience, when she invented a story about being under sniper fire in Bosnia, was to say it wasn’t surprising she got some things wrong, seeing how she spoke millions of words every day. What a magnificent idea, that if you say lots of words some of them are bound to be fantastic lies. So if you listen carefully to horse-racing commentators they say things like “And it’s Teddy’s Boy still leading three furlongs out as they come up to the fourth last fence with Nip and Tuck two lengths behind by the way I fought a tiger once, punched it clean out and they’re all safely over.”

And auctioneers say, “Three-fifty, three-sixty, three-seventy, three-seventy man in the hat three-eighty here, my dad invented cornflakes, going once going twice, and magnets, he invented them straight up – gone.”

…

Because someone who routinely lies like she does, then dismisses it as a consequence of the number of words she says has severe psychological problems. Perhaps her disorder is a result of the sort of politician she is. Like Blair, neither she nor Bill stand for anything – priding themselves in being tied to no “ideology”. So a normal politician might set out with a set of principles, then lie as they compromise and betray them. But a Blair or Clinton is a politician with no purpose but their own standing, like celebrities who are nothing but celebrities. So they say whatever they feel will make them look best to the audience they’re with, regardless of whether it’s true, until they probably don’t know themselves what’s real and what’s not.

Ouch.

(h/t twelve pounds of fury)

The playoff schedule is posted! The playoff schedule is posted!

(If you thought Nathan Johnson was excited about the new phone books, well I’ve been hitting refresh like a squirrel on crack all afternoon waiting for the NHL to publish the playoff schedules – and finally:

(from washingtoncapitals.com)

2008 EASTERN CONFERENCE – PLAYOFF MASTER SCHEDULE
CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS – ROUND #1

#3 Washington vs. #6 Philadelphia

Fri.,April 11, 2008 7:00 PM Philadelphia at Washington (Flyers 4 – Caps 5)

Sun., April 13, 2008 2:00 PM Philadelphia at Washington (on NBC) (Flyers 2 – Caps 0)

Tues., April 15, 2008 7:00 PM Washington at Philadelphia (Caps 3 – Flyers 6)

Thurs., April 17, 2008 7:00 PM Washington at Philadelphia (Caps 3 - Flyers 4)

Sat., April 19, 2008 1:00 PM Philadelphia at Washington (Flyers 2 – Caps 3)

Mon., April 21, 2008 7:00 PM Washington at Philadelphia (Caps 4 – Flyers 2)

Tues., April 22, 2008 7:00 Philadelphia at Washington (Flyers 3 – Caps 2 O/T)

I really dodged a few Bullets (actually a few Wizards?) with this. In a fit of excitement and most likely fiscal insanity, I signed up for a Capitals playoff ticket plan a few weeks ago. Riding the Metro home after Saturday’s game had sealed the Caps Southeast Title and 3rd seed in the first round, I started to figure out my schedule. The Wizards play Wednesday and if the Caps had started the series on Thursday – well I would have had a ticket for someone. Away games and Pittsburgh, well TiVo can handle that.

Go Caps – at least until you face the Penguins.

Other schedules listed after the jump.

Beware the brackets – a hidden way to increase county spending?

Buried in Howard County Bill 15-2008 (pdf) are a set of double brackets that may be a back door attempt by Ken Ulman to increase county spending. The introduction seems innocent enough (emphasis added):

AN ACT amending certain definitions; amending the amount and clarifying the enforcement of the mobile home park refuse collection charge; clarifying the fee for the collection of excess refuse; amending the refuse collection charge assistance program to clarify that the Department of Finance shall administer the program and to amend the amount of the credit; making certain technical corrections; and generally related to refuse collection charges in Howard County.

But a closer look at those pesky “certain technical corrections” under Section 20.900:

Section 20.900. Definitions.
(e) Refuse Collection Service: Refuse Collection Service means the collection and disposal by the county of solid waste[[, excluding the separate collection and processing of recyclable materials]].

Currently trash collection and disposal costs are paid with a annual $175 fee paid by Howard County residents, while the the costs associated with recycling are paid from the general fund. If this legislation is adopted as currently written, the costs for both programs will fall under the “trash collection” fee.

So what? We the taxpayer pay for both anyway, what difference does it make what accounting bin the money comes from? Well, according to public works director James M. Irvin (from the Baltimore Sun: Ulman wants recycling costs moved)

The trash fee raised $14 million for this fiscal year, which is close to what the county expects to pay for trash disposal, according to public works director James M. Irvin. Shifting recycling costs to that fund would mean more revenue would be needed to cover costs.

The current costs for collection in the recycling program is $5 million. That cost is offset by $1.4 million in the sale of recycled materials. This “technical correction” will place an additional $3.6 million dollar of costs into the trash collection “account.”

The current county trash disposal contract expires in 2013 and County officials are expecting a large jump in costs. So, when the county looks to increase the $175.00 fee, the total costs are going to appear even higher (about $45 per household)  when the recycling costs and the general trash collection fees are combined.

If this change passes, will Ken Ulman and the County Council reduce the general budget and reduce our taxes to offset this change?  Or, will this become “found money” and spent elsewhere, effectively increasing or tax burden?

Greg Fox (R-District 5) is going to seek such an amendment, but I was unable to find it posted on the County web site.

One step away from increased transparency in Maryland Gov. spending.

The Maryland Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2008, sponsored by Del. Warren Miller (R-Howard County) appears to be one signature away from being enacted. On March 17, 2008 the House passed the bill 137-0 and on April 1, 2008 the Maryland Senate passed the bill 47-0.

From the Baltimore Sun, Bipartisanship Pays (Ulman wants to move on building repairs)

This year, Miller had 47 co-sponsors in the House, including two Democratic committee chairs, plus Howard Democratic Dels. Elizabeth Bobo, Frank S. Turner, Guy Guzzone and Steven J. DeBoy. Public interest groups also endorsed the idea, and the bill passed the House with a unanimous vote March 17.

But, on March 28, Senate Budget and Tax Committee Chairman Ulysses Currie said he would not bring Miller’s bill up for a vote because of a concern over the $250,000 price tag. Then, without explanation, Currie changed his mind, and his committee voted unanimously Monday to approve it.

Greg Fox used this bill to propose provide the same transparency for Howard County government spending that will go into effect July 2010.

The measure inspired Greg Fox, the County Council’s lone Republican member, to introduce a local ordinance to provide the same information on county spending. The bill was unanimously approved last month after Fox worked with the Ulman administration to delay the availability of the information until July 1, 2010, to fit better into technology director Ira Levy’s work replacing county finance software.

These will be great tools to enable citizens to see how our money is being spend by our elected officials.