Anne Arundel County residents consider education a top priority and the estimated $400 million school repair bill a serious problem, but they're loath to raise property and income taxes to pay for it, according to a recent community college poll.

They would rather have the county borrow for repairs or use funds from a lottery, the poll by Anne Arundel Community College's Center for the Study of Local Issues showed.

"I am not sure what people fear about raising taxes," said Dan Nataf, director of the center. "What people are really saying is: 'Why don't we just have a cookie sale to pay for this?' "

Education ranked second only to growth among the 497 county residents who responded to the poll, which was conducted March 15-18.

Asked about funding the huge school repair bill, only 20 percent of the respondents endorsed a property tax increase; 23 percent approved of an increase in the local income tax; 23 percent thought charging homeowners a separate fee for four years was a good way to finance the expenses.

"This is a classic free-ride situation," said Nataf.

To pay for school repairs, 58 percent of the respondents approved of the county borrowing the money through bonds and 62 percent favored creating a state lottery devoted to school repairs.

Most public officials consider it bad policy to borrow for repair and maintenance projects, which usually are budgeted every year and are financed through the county's operating budget.

Borrowing is generally reserved for major capital projects, such as building new schools or roads.

Borrowing too much can hurt the county's credit rating with investors. Because the county has a tax cap that limits the amount of money it can raise, investors, seeing the county is forced to borrow, may demand higher interest payments.

School projects are competing with other items for county money, said Daniel E. Klosterman, County Council chairman.

"The county can borrow up to $50 million a year, but the Board of Education is not the only project we have to fund," he said. "There is parks and rec, libraries, police and fire to name a few -- so only so much of that money would go to the schools."

Poll respondents also rejected shifting money from other county departments, including police and fire, to pay for schools.

They endorsed other fund-raising tactics such as increasing the cigarette tax; allowing slot machines; cutting county administrative costs; and using better planning and budgeting.

"It's pretty hard to justify a tax increase when we have had surpluses year after year," Klosterman said.

The poll also quizzed respondents on the school board election process.

Of six choices, an elected school board with no taxing authority received the most support -- 49 percent.

"It's almost like: 'Don't even think of creating another entity that can tax me,' " Nataf said.

School board member Thomas Florestano said he did not favor an elected school board but said members should be chosen with greater care.

"Right now, it's a beauty contest," he said. "Until a job description is put into the process, that is how it will stay. We need people with budget, personnel and public policy experience."

The importance of education has dropped since the center's fall poll, when it ranked first and growth came in a close second.

In this poll, 31 percent of the respondents ranked growth as an important problem; education was second at 24 percent; and crime came in third at 12 percent.

Pub Date: 3/26/99