O'Malley To Hold Talk On Transportation Funding
COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) -- Business leaders will join Gov. Martin O'Malley and other elected officials to discuss the future of transportation funding in Maryland.
The roundtable discussion is scheduled for Friday morning in Columbia.
Business leaders have been critical of spending transfers away from Maryland's Transportation Trust Fund to fill budget holes.
In February, a 28-member state commission on transportation funding recommended that the state raise $800 million to shore up the trust fund. The panel was not specific about how the money should be raised, but it passed on a list of recommendations to lawmakers and the governor to consider. A bill that would have raised the gas tax in the last legislative session did not pass.
Maryland has a $40 billion backlog in a variety of planned, unfunded transportation projects.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)