The $45 million surplus that Gov.-elect Parris N. Glendening boasted he was leaving behind in Prince George's County has already evaporated and the county faces a $107 million shortfall in the coming budget year, Mr. Glendening's successor grimly announced yesterday.
Wayne K. Curry, who will be sworn in as county executive Monday, said an initial review of county finances by his transition team shows that "our county is in deep financial trouble."
He warned residents to expect sharp cuts in county programs and a restructuring of government. He left open the possibility of a tax increase as well.
"There is no major way to close this kind of gap without putting everything on the table," he said.
Both Mr. Curry and his transition chief, Betty Buck, said they had no idea of the depth of the county's financial troubles until they began meeting with budget officials after the Nov. 8 election.
But Mr. Curry declined to point the finger at Mr. Glendening, saying, "I'm not interested in affixing blame. I'm interested in fixing the problem."
Mr. Glendening based much of his campaign for governor on his record as Prince George's County executive for 12 years, frequently citing the $45 million surplus in advertisements and campaign speeches.
But Mr. Curry said yesterday that the surplus, available at the end of fiscal year 1994, was eaten up in the current budget year, fiscal year 1995, by $23 million in required contributions to the county's "rainy day fund" and by operating deficits that grew to about $23 million.
The result is a projected $1 million shortfall in the county's current budget year.
More troubling, Mr. Curry said, is that increasing costs for county services combined with a drop in property tax and piggyback income tax revenue have created a projected $107 million shortfall for the fiscal year 1996 budget.
Mr. Glendening yesterday defended his use of the surplus figure during his campaign and said the revenue-expenditure imbalance facing Prince George's County is no different than the budget problems facing governments everywhere, including Maryland's state government and the federal government.
"We left the county in good fiscal shape . . . up to the point where I am," he said.
"We left a $45 million audited fund balance -- independently audited and verifiable," he said. "We also left -- as is the case in every government across the state and across the country -- some hard decisions yet to be made, just as I'm anticipating making some hard decisions as governor."
By March, Mr. Curry must find a way to get the budget in balance for submission to the County Council.
"It is clear to me we will have to consider major spending cuts and other measures," he said. While he said he would attempt to protect police and other public safety programs from reductions, he said there will be no "sacred cows" in the budget, including school spending.
The county property tax rate is capped, and assessments have been going down ever since the 1990-1991 recession, Mr. Curry said.
In addition, the County Council has begun a two-stage rollback of the county's 60 percent piggyback tax rate to 58 percent on Jan. 1 and to 55 percent in January 1996.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., a Prince George's County Democrat, said Mr. Curry should not expect state help.
"Representatives from the other parts of the state are not going to be anxious to bail out Prince George's County," he said.
But Mr. Miller also warned against raising taxes.
"I think the public is going to expect the new county executive to take some time to make some serious cuts, to look at some serious alternatives to taxes, before they would feel he could even come to Annapolis and suggest that possibility."