After approving a $1.4 billion operating budget and $420.8 million capital budget for the coming year May 22, members of the Howard County Council gave county budget director Raymond Wacks a four-leaf clover.

Council chairwoman Courtney Watson told Wacks he would need the charm in hopes of staving off a future deficit thanks to a dim economic forecast.

"We really hope that next year will be a positive year for our revenues," Watson told Wacks.

The spending plan the council approved for fiscal 2009, which begins July 1, holds steady property and income tax rates, but hikes fees for trash, recycling and water services.

The operating budget includes funding to help launch a medical program to serve the county's uninsured residents, purchase 14 hybrid-electric buses, hire 22 new police officers, 164 new school staffers and to pay for raises for county employees.

The capital budget includes money to begin a renovation and reorganization of county offices, renovate Mt. Hebron High School, in Ellicott City, build a park and community center in North Laurel, build a nature center in west Columbia, and replace the Miller Branch Library, in Ellicott City.

County Executive Kenneth Ulman said he was satisfied that the budget he proposed earlier this spring was approved by the council "intact for the most part."

He added that he was pleased the council passed environmental, public health, public safety and educational initiatives that he considered priorities.

Capital, operating budgets up

The capital budget represents a 19-percent hike over the county's current $352.5 million capital plan, while the operating budget is an 8 percent increase over the current $1.3 billion budget.

Residents will foot the bill for some of the increased spending through roughly $50 hikes in the fees they pay for trash removal and water and sewer services.

Officials say the hike is necessary to pay for new recycling bins the county will distribute to residents and to prepare the county for an anticipated spike in the rate it pays to have garbage hauled out of the county.

Water and sewer fees also will increase about 8 percent -- or roughly $50 per household -- to offset the rising costs to operate the county's system and pay for higher costs of buying water from Baltimore City.

The council passed the budgets on a 4-1 vote, with its lone Republican, Greg Fox, of Fulton, casting the only "nay" vote.

Fox said he voted against the budget mostly because of misgivings he has about the government office reorganization plan, which foresees the county buying space in a yet-to-be constructed building in Oakland Mills, and his desire to reduce spending in general.

Ulman, a Democrat, said that he too believes that the county should not overspend during a period of economic downturn, but that his budget is responsible.

"Our income tax and property tax revenues are healthy, but we're constantly monitoring them," he said.

Schools get 'realistic' funds

The public school system takes away $80.5 million for its building and renovation projects and $454.8 million toward its operating budget.

In funding the schools' capital budget, the council trimmed $1.7 million from other county projects in order to plug an unexpected shortfall in the amount the state contributed to the system. The council also trimmed $50,000 from its own budget to put toward school renovations.

Superintendent of Schools Sydney Cousin called the schools' take "a realistic level of funding."

"I think the county has done everything they can to meet the request we made," he said.

In approving the budget, the council also allotted $27 million to begin a contested renovation at Mt. Hebron High School.

Plans to renovate or replace the 43-year-old school have been debated for several years, with some parents and teachers arguing the scope of the school board's renovation plan was insufficient.

"I feel confident it will be a school any student would be proud of," Watson said.

E-mail Jennifer Broadwater at jbroadwater@patuxent.com.

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