Franchot Brings Austerity Message to Arbutus

Facing a packed banquet room full of business people and community leaders at Paul’s Restaurant in Arbutus, state comptroller Peter Franchot repeated a message that is becoming dismally familiar: We need to do more with less money.

“Frankly, we’re broke,” says the man who controls the state’s pursestrings.

With the country in the third year of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the few glimmers of promising news are overshadowed in the deep hole that seems to have swallowed the entire country.

“For some reason, I haven’t gotten the memo that the recession is over,” Franchot says. “As far as I know, the recession is alive and well. The statistics are just overwhelming on unemployment and home foreclosures.”

Raising taxes is not a viable option, he insists. “The economy is fragile,” he says. “We have a problem with out-of-control debt and out-of-control spending. We have to learn to bring it back and live within our means.”

The beginnings of austerity are rumbling through the schools, when the county system announced a job freeze and spending cuts that will increase crowding in classrooms.

The day’s listening tour – he sidestepped a question about a possible run for Governor in four years – took Franchot to Lansdowne High School’s Academy of Finance, where he spoke about the state’s budget crisis with students and faculty. On a swing by Fort Garrison Elementary School, he presented an award for superior maintenance, which helps extend the life of the 50-year-old school.

In Arbutus, Franchot was asked about pensions, slot machines and purchase of wine over the Internet.

The bottom line, which he repeated in various ways, was that the going will be tough for a while.

“It’s going to be a rough couple of years while we work our way out of this,” Franchot says.

Responses from those in attendance varied.

“It was great,” says attorney Terry Nolan, president of Arbutus Business and Professional Association. “I think all budgets can use a little trimming.”

“Nothing seems to ever change,” says his wife, Patti Sue. “I hope it will. It’s an uphill battle.”

“It’s just the same old stuff,” says Stephen Camming, owner of a company located in Baltimore City that makes bullet-resistant sportswear. “The state is never run like a business. I wanted to hear something on the table.”