A little bit of everything
The Capital Debt Affordability Committee Monday recommended that the state could afford to float an additional $150 million bonds in fiscal 2014, bringing the total to $1.075 billion – but not the extra $750 million over five years the O’Malley administration had requested.
Read moreIt was a bad day for bureaucrats at the Board of Public Works Wednesday – at least for several state officials who had to defend their spending plans to the three-member board that must approve all major state contracts.
In the end, most of the state agencies got the money they came for, but not before some uncomfortable questions and critical remarks came their way about slow payments and outsourcing loan-making and faculty hiring.
Read moreComptroller Peter Franchot had waited long enough for the other two members of the Board of Public Works, the treasurer and the governor, to show up for their biweekly 10 a.m. meeting Wednesday. He told the packed room of “busy people” that the meetings should start on time.
Read moreMany audits of state agencies find wasted dollars, poor accounting controls, lax purchasing measures and even occasional fraud; so it’s worth pointing out that legislative auditors reviewing $2.6 billion of spending that went through the transportation secretary’s office found absolutely nothing. The good news comes as Transportation Secretary Beverley Swaim-Staley announced she’s leaving the post July 1, after almost three years in the job.
Read moreDespite a strong protest, the Board of Public Works unanimously awarded a $598 million contract to provide health services to 26,000 prison inmates over the next five years to Wexford Health Sources of Pittsburgh. As prison officials advised, it rejected the bid by Corizon Inc. of St. Louis, which has been providing two-thirds of the services to the prisoners for the last seven years.
Read moreApproval of two retroactive contracts for Maryland Public Television worth $162,152 were unanimously approved by the Board of Public Works on Wednesday, but the long-standing problems with procurement at the state agency rankled Treasurer Nancy Kopp.
Read moreBecause of lower-than-expected income tax revenues, the Board of Revenue Estimates lowered Maryland’s projected revenues for the coming year by $80 million, and Comptroller Peter Franchot warned against any policies that would impact individual taxpayers.
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