A CECIL TIMES SPECIAL REPORT The former chair of Cecil County’s troubled animal control oversight panel has been found subject to “reprimand” by four members of the county’s Ethics Commission—but it’s a moot point because the chair, Lyn Yelton, already resigned several months ago. A dissenting opinion challenged that conclusion and said other members...
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The Cecil County Council adopted the new Fiscal 2016 budget just a few weeks ago but now that the new budget year began July 1, the panel is considering several budget amendments to boost or shift around spending and the county executive is asking for an expedited approval process that would shorten the time...
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Cecil County hosted a party for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan Thursday night to support his re-election campaign funds and when the guest of honor couldn’t make it to the event, the party went on—with a giant ‘get well’ card and support for Hogan in his battle against cancer. Organizers of the event, the Cecil...
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NEWS ANALYSIS Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced new transportation aid, including $845 million in new roadwork for counties around the state, on Thursday—but Cecil County was not on the aid list. The no-thanks gesture comes at a time when local business leaders are scheduled to hold a fundraiser for Hogan’s future re-election campaign next...
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A local hot-button issue—mandatory fire sprinklers in newly built single-family homes—is back before the Cecil County Council, but this time the county will be unable to opt-out of sprinkler regulations that the old Board of Commissioners reversed over three years ago. As a result, there could be a rush to obtain building permits for...
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Cecil County has adequate high-speed Internet services for businesses in the Route 40 growth corridor and no county expenditures or initiatives are needed, according to a report by the administration of County Executive Tari Moore. But Moore’s report excluded residential customers and businesses located elsewhere in the county and came at the same time...
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COMMENTARY The budget adopted by the Cecil County Council this week was the toughest top-to-bottom scrutiny of county government spending in the three years of Charter government, with one glaring exception: the public schools. And the only significant item eventually cut from the schools –tennis court repairs—became a symbolic issue as the Council fought...
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The Cecil County Council approved a new Fiscal 2016 budget Tuesday night, cutting spending by over $2 million to kill a property tax increase proposed by County Executive Tari Moore. But the council’s deliberations went to the wire with a last-minute $150,000 spending cut in the county Sheriff’s Department budget that already had been...
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In a last-minute move just hours before the Cecil County Council was slated to approve the Fiscal 2016 budget, Council President Robert Hodge (R-5) pushed through another $150,000 cut in the Sheriff Department’s budget Tuesday morning. Hodge had been angling for weeks for deeper cuts, especially aimed at eliminating the position of head of...
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The Cecil County Council reached its goal on Thursday to block a property tax increase proposed by the County Executive, with extra money still available for possible last-minute additional tax relief for citizens or lowering healthcare expenses paid by county employees. After several hours of often chaotic number-crunching and cross-talk at an afternoon meeting...
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The Cecil County Council crawled into the home stretch of their budget deliberations on Tuesday, with another round of spending cuts that put them within about $146,000 of their goal to prevent a two-cent property tax increase proposed by County Executive Tari Moore. At one point, County Council President Robert Hodge (R-5) proposed a...
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A new US Supreme Court decision will cost Cecil County an estimated $1.3 million a year in future lost income tax revenues, and refunds for past taxes struck down by the court could cost the county up to $1.4 million more than previously expected. The fiscal bad news came as the Cecil County Council...
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NEWS ANALYSIS The budget honeymoon between the Cecil County Council and County Executive Tari Moore—which lasted for two years of minimal cuts in her budget proposals—is over. The Council is weighing a broad array of spending cuts, from big-ticket items to budgetary pocket change, to avoid or reduce Moore’s two-cent property tax rate rise...
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NEWS ANALYSIS The Cecil County Council, confronted by anguished parents and supporters of Girl Scouts who say they suffered racial slurs after they spoke up at a meeting of the county’s animal control oversight panel, is now pressing the County Executive for action to resolve long-standing issues surrounding the county’s animal control contractor, A...
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NEWS ANALYSIS Cecil County’s animal control oversight panel that monitors a private contractor, handling stray animals at taxpayer expense, has lost two members who resigned recently after what some say was “bullying” by the contractor, A Buddy for Life, Inc. And after a meeting last week, Girl Scouts who had questioned the shelter operations...
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