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NEWS RELEASE

March 19, 2008

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Ulman Receives Final Report from Howard County Spending Affordability Advisory Committee

ELLICOTT CITY, MD— County Executive Ken Ulman announced today that the Spending Affordability Advisory Committee, appointed to review the County’s projections of revenues and expenditures for fiscal year 2009 and fiscal years 2010 through 2014, has completed its work and presented its final report. The Committee report includes projections of revenue and a recommended level of County debt authorization.

“I want to thank the Committee members for their hard work and the amount of time they spent researching their findings,” said Executive Ulman. “These uncertain economic times have made their job even more difficult this year. This Committee reviewed an enormous amount of information in a short period of time to provide me with an educated guideline that I can use in the preparation of my fiscal year 2009 budget.”

Before preparing the final report, the Committee received briefings from economists relating to personal income growth in the County and from the Maryland Department of Assessments relating to the increase in County property assessments. Briefings were also given on the future of BRAC, economic development and demographics as they relate to County revenues and expenditure needs.

The Committee concluded that this upcoming year appears to be an unsettled time for the national, state and Howard County economies. The slowing of the real estate bubble and the resulting crises in the mortgage industry seems to be pointing the economy towards sluggish growth for the next year. This means that the County will have to be vigilant and wary in projecting revenues and setting spending limits in the upcoming fiscal year. The County must also continue to provide funding for “Other Post Employment Benefits” and determine the effect of that funding on the financial support available for debt service.

The Committee recommended that if spending is maintained at projected levels, the County can authorize up to $100 million in bonds supported by the general revenues in the budget each year. However, the Committee also noted that these recommendations need to be re-evaluated each year.

Members of the Spending Affordability Advisory Committee included 11 individuals from the community with various professional backgrounds related to finance and business. In addition, there were a total of eight “government official” members on the Committee, including representatives from the Board of Education, Howard Community College and Howard County Government. The Chair of the Committee was Raymond Wacks, the County’s Budget Administrator.

The complete Spending Affordability Advisory Committee Report is available on-line from the County’s homepage at www.howardcountymd.gov.