20 YEARS OF ART Mount Rainier business owner earns advocacy award. A-3
NEWS: Prince George’s officials rail against plans to shelve Purple Line. A-3
The Gazette
NORTHERN AND CENTRAL PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNT Y
SPORTS: Parkdale basketball answers many questions with standout season. B-1
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Thursday, February 12, 2015
25 cents
County scrambles to fill $47M deficit n
Council wants furloughs taken off table
BY JAMIE
ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Paint Branch Elementary School sixth-graders (from left) Noveya Cruz and Jasmine Major get instructions from Noveya’s mother, Celina Cruz, on mixing their bread dough Friday while learning about making bread with their classmates at Paint Branch Elementary School.
Promoting parents Partnerships at Paint Branch Elementary bring new support system to school
BY
KIRSTEN PETERSEN STAFF WRITER
Juanita Major of Adelphi said she has told her son and daughter about their great-grandmother’s time working in a bakery, but hasn’t had a chance to show them how to bake bread. By volunteering at a bread-making activity Friday at Paint Branch Elementary School in College Park, Major said she could still be part of her children’s learning experience. “They get a sense of family and teamwork when I’m there supporting them, too,” Major said. The in-school activity kicked off a new partnership between the school and New Carrollton nonprofit Walking
on Water Inc., to promote sustained volunteerism from parents and University of Maryland, College Park students. Raymon Reed, CEO of Walking on Water, which encourages holistic health and education, said he trained parent volunteers for the bread-making activity to emphasize how schools, families and communities can contribute to a child’s education. “When we provide the support to our schools, we’ll see the results in the classroom and in our communities,” Reed said. This push doesn’t stop at the breadmaking activity. Reed said Walking on Water will provide training, classes and opportunities to share information with Paint Branch parents on a regular basis.
Staff reductions could be considered
“The bread-make is an opportunity to see the kind of parent organization at a school and it’s our assumption that every school could use more support,” Reed said. Seven parent and sibling volunteers gathered ingredients, helped children take measurements, and offered advice as they mixed and kneaded the balls of dough. June Mbulu of College Park said she volunteers regularly at the school and said seeing her son, Hiram, 11, learn gives her more confidence in what his teachers do. “It’s important,” Mbulu said. “It makes it a joint effort when the
See PARTNERSHIP, Page A-8
Residents urge officials to keep in mind need for community center n
BY JAMIE
ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
Deborah Martin of Hyattsville said she’s in favor of a plan to move the city’s police department from its current location on Gallatin Street to the old BB&T Bank building on Hamilton Street, where it will be closer to her residence.
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HEALING FEELING
Hyattsville artist uses art to deal with neurological disorder; work to be displayed locally this weekend. A-4
See DEFICIT, Page A-8
Schools face possible $38 million shortfall n
Hyattsville police move gains support at forum “I’ll be safer in my neighborhood, because [the police] will be right there,” said Martin, who was one of approximately 20 people who attended a Feb. 4 community meeting held at the Abundant Life Bible Church regarding the proposed move. No one spoke against the proposal during the meeting. Hyattsville Police Chief Douglas Holland said the current arrangement, where the police department uses the second floor of the municipal building,
Prince George’s County Council members want to take employee furloughs off the table as they and the county executive’s office consider ways to make up for a nearly $47 million budget deficit. “There’s considerable opposition on the council to do furloughs,” said Council Chairman Mel Franklin (DDist. 9) of Upper Marlboro. “So we’re going to enter negotiations with the administration as to what response to take.” Thomas Himler, the county’s deputy chief administrative officer for budget and finance, said the county is facing a $46.6 million deficit in its current year $2.89 billion budget. Himler said the amount includes approximately $7.5 million in cuts made by former Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) before leaving office last month.
The remainder of the shortfall includes higher than expected fringe benefit costs, higher public safety overtime costs and additional election costs than had been budgeted for, Himler said. Himler said the county identified $13 million in savings last October. “We canceled some programs, did some other things, so now it’s really the difference. We’re looking at a couple options, we’re looking at a way we can use debt service. We’re also looking at saving some money on some health care costs and we’ve talked about furloughs,” Himler said. Himler said furloughs for the county’s approximately 7,000 county employees would provide $1.4 million in savings per day, after additional costs for overtime due to lower staff are included. Ten days of furloughs, which Himler first suggested Jan. 6 at a legislative retreat in Cambridge, would net the county $14 million in savings. However, during a Monday budget meeting with the County Council,
BY JAMIE
ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
Prince George’s County Public Schools is looking at a $38 million shortfall in state funding, but CEO Kevin Maxwell said the school system will wait until June to decide what, if any cuts need to be made. The head of the county school system indicated that staff cuts wouldn’t be out of the question. “I don’t recommend we cut anything until we know exactly what the revenue is. That process takes place in June, when the budget comes back to us,” Maxwell said Tuesday during the school board’s budget work session and public hearing. Maxwell said it is premature to
make cuts in his proposed $1.83 billion budget until the state funding situation plays itself out in Annapolis over the course of the General Assembly session. “We are hopeful that we won’t have to make any cuts if something changes with the revenue,” said Chief Financial Officer Raymond Brown. Brown said the anticipated reduction comes in part from a $20 million cut to the Geographic Cost of Education Index, or GCEI, a funding formula to fund increased costs of education in large, urban school districts. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) released a proposed budget that cuts funding to the GCEI by 50 percent. GCEI funding is discretionary and is not mandated by law. Hogan’s budget also includes
See SCHOOL BUDGET, Page A-8
Nonprofit: Laurel’s feral cat population down 31 percent Trap-neuter-return effort credited for decrease
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BY
KIRSTEN PETERSEN STAFF WRITER
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Sandra Hess pets Junior, a feral cat she feeds outside of her home in Laurel. Hess provides food and shelter for feral cats.
Fewer feral cats are freely roaming city streets and neighborhoods today in Laurel, according to an organization that monitors the animals, thanks to a three-year volunteer effort to control the population through spaying and neutering. Helen Woods, president of the nonprofit group Laurel Cats, said 88 volunteers reported in 2012 that they
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fed and cared for a total of 777 wild cats in Laurel. After three years of trapping the cats, taking them to a clinic to be spayed or neutered, and then returning them to where they were caught — a practice called “trap-neuter-return” — the volunteers said they are now caring for 539 cats, according to Woods. Woods said the 31 percent decrease can be attributed to spaying and neutering. By preventing the cats from reproducing, the population numbers will decline naturally and euthanasia will not be necessary, she said. “We’re dedicated to humanely
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