The .0015% Solution

The State’s operating budget is over 14 billion, with a “b”, dollars.  All of us see it as the State’s blueprint for spending, but few know it can be a lethal arena for what many of us might see as pure policy issues.

Last year, the Governor announced that he was moving the Department of Housing and Community Development from Crownsville (in Anne Arundel County) to rental space at a Metro stop in Prince George’s County.  The move fulfilled a 2006 campaign pledge.  You might think that the Governor – the Chief Executive Officer of the State – would be able to decide where executive offices are located.

You would be wrong.

Employees, the employees union, and Anne Arundel County fought the move through the budget process.  The Department of Housing and Community Development’s budget is part of that $14 billion spending plan.  Legislators burrowed deep into it, and inserted a $250,000 provision requiring a study and legislative approval on constructing or rehabilitating the Department’s headquarters in Crownsville, and a detailed review of a move to Prince George’s County impact of the existing employees.  The $250,000, on a percentage basis, is .0015 of a percent of the state’s general operating budget.

Will the Department move?  Time will tell, but that .0015 % solution just might prove lethal to this initative.