Responding to community concern about spending increases, the Columbia Council cut more than $200,000 from the Columbia Association's 1995-1996 operating budget before adopting the $33.2 million spending plan last night.
The council also approved a $5.1 million capital budget for the nonprofit association, cutting $844,000 from the original proposal.
Despite the trims from the initial proposal, the new budget is about 4.7 percent higher than the present budget. But the new capital budget represents a 12 percent decrease from the present one.
The council voted to order association staff to find ways to trim one-half of 1 percent from the operating budget, without harming services. That reduction is estimated to save about $95,000.
The 10-member board also voted to reduce both the increases in average merit raises for association employees and grants to Columbia's 10 village associations from 4 percent to 3.5 percent, which will save about $47,500.
"It has come through clearly that many people in the community, including half of the village boards, think expenditures are growing too quickly," said Council Vice Chairman David W. Berson, whose original proposal for a 1 percent across-the-board cut was modified.
"Unfortunately we don't have enough information on the operating budget to know which programs to cut specifically or where to cut."
Some council members expressed concern about making cuts at the 11th hour without enough information about the impact of those cuts.
"We started this job months and months ago. When we were giving [association] staff direction, we could have anticipated this necessity," said Councilwoman Evelyn Richardson of Dorsey's Search village. ". . . I'm concerned we weren't astute enough to tackle this job when it should have been done months ago."
The Columbia Council is the board of directors for the nonprofit association, which imposes an annual levy on property owners to help pay for recreational facilities, community services and parkland maintenance.
The operating budget maintains a level property levy rate of 73 cents per $100 of assessed value, which comes to $547 for a $150,000 home.
Capital budget cuts included $485,000 for a new irrigation system at the Hobbit's Glen Golf Club, $200,000 for exterior improvements to the Swansfield and Faulkner Ridge neighborhood centers and $102,000 to dredge the Symphony Woods park pond, the first phase of a proposed multiyear improvement project.
The council conditionally approved $1.4 million for a controversial recreational vehicle parking facility off Snowden River Parkway near Owen Brown village. However, it did not commit to building an RV park, but only to reserving money for the project.
Council members agreed that before money can be spent, the council must approve a tentative agreement with the Rouse Co. to purchase 5 acres of land for $1 million in the former General Electric manufacturing park. The council also is holding in reserve the $400,000 needed to develop an RV park until it makes a policy decision on how best to use that land.
Most council members say buying the land from Rouse benefits Columbia Association financially even if an RV park is not developed. In exchange for the land purchase, Rouse would give the association the right to impose its annual levy on two properties now excluded from that charge -- the Snowden Square retail center and a nearby residential tract planned for about 600 homes.
Those properties are expected to generate $350,000 in annual assessment revenue for the association within three years.
But several council members and residents have questioned the project, citing nearby environmental contamination, the high price of the land and the lack of an independent appraisal. The council is awaiting the results of an independent cost-benefit analysis of the proposal and an environmental assessment.
Councilman Chuck Rees said he believes that questions he asked association President Padraic Kennedy in a letter several weeks ago have been "brushed off" thus far.
Also last night, the council voted to approve increased Package Plan recreational membership rates, which allow access to the association's array of facilities.
The council also created separate rate categories for memberships that include or exclude Columbia's two golf courses, including the soon-to-open Fairway Hills.
The change increases rates overall, but even more for those who join the golf clubs. The increases are intended to help pay for new pools in River Hill and Long Reach villages as well as the new Fairway Hills links.
For memberships excluding golf, increases will range from 1.1 percent to 2.5 percent. Increases for memberships including golf will range from 4.3 percent to 5.2 percent, including a one-year discount of either $25 or $50 as an incentive.