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Vol. 5 No. 12
Hyattsville’s Community Newspaper
County requires furlough to boost bottom line
Making melody
by Allie Benjamin
by Maren Wright
rince George's County is facing its worst budget outlook in the past two decades, and last week County Executive Jack B. Johnson met with county council members to discuss the budget shortfall for the next fiscal year, which is projected at $70 million. While it has been said that the meeting was “secret since it was held behind closed doors” James Keary, spokesman for Johnson, said that the meeting was not subterranean, but rather kept private so that leaders were able to speak freely. Keary said he was told that many citizens felt this way “Every year there is a meeting with members of the delegation about upcoming sessions because the county has to submit bills or give notice that they are working on something,” said Keary. On a national scale, budget problems have been growing worse over the past two or three months, Keary said. In order to refrain from using reserves, the county has been adjusting budget numbers almost daily to stay on top of finances, he added.
elodies bounce across the red stained wood floors in the form of jumping toddlers, as Audrey Engdahl strums her guitar for a morning Kidsongs class. On this Wednesday morning at Rhode Island Reds Café, music spilled over like the eggs on the bagel sandwich. Two-year-old Kai Howarth was still at the table with a breakfast Danish when the music started. His mom, Krista Atteberry, said she liked the location and the convenience of being able to grab some breakfast before the class. “Here at the community café, I can get my coffee and he can get his juice box,” Atteberry said. By the time Engdahl had pulled out the box of music makers, Kai had jumped into the action. Each child took two shakers, one to keep and one to offer to the grown-up they had brought along. “The essential thing I’m bringing through these classes is demonstrat-
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ing that music is alive—something they can do, something they help create,” Engdahl said. She’s known as Miss Audrey to her young fans. Engdahl has taught music classes for eight years. She has taught at public schools and currently teaches at the Lowell School in Washington, D.C. Her “ImagineThat” CD, produced with her husband, Rick, won a Parent’s Choice award in 2007. “The song is such a great vehicle for the imagination,” Engdahl said. “It takes you wherever you want to visit.” A train bridge is visible from the window of Rhode Island Reds Café. Engdahl takes cues from the surroundings and sings a classic song about a freight train, but in her variation the train goes wherever the kids want to go. “She takes requests and plays off their comments,” Atteberry said, sharing an example of how Engdahl started into a song about the sun when it was mentioned by a child.
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December 2008
Audrey Engdahl strums her guitar for a morning Kidsongs class last month at Rhode Island Reds café on Route 1.
Hyattsville has ups, downs during economic crisis
Salt prices increase, city to pay more this winter
by Paula Minaert
by Anke Bettina Irgang
Hyattsville Life & Times PO Box 132 Hyattsville, MD 20781
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ow has Hyattsville — especially development in the city — been affected by the recent financial upset? Mayor William Gardiner talked about the city’s finances: “Real property tax is the city’s largest source of revenue,” he said. “According to [Prince George’s] county’s treasury department, we should get about $9 million in tax revenue in FY 09. When new properties are developed, that brings in income. In the upcoming fiscal year, we’ll see some revenue from the Post Properties Project [an apartment development across from Home Depot] and from Mosaic at Metro, and possibly from some retail activity at University Town Center. And when the city annexed the area that includes the Mall at Prince George’s, we agreed that the mall’s taxes would be phased in over five years. So in FY10, they’ll pay more taxes.”
State and county funding, on the other hand, form a small portion of the city’s budget – less than $1 million out of an operating budget of $15 million and a capital budget of $5 million, Gardiner said. Gardiner also said that the City Council, at its Nov. 17 meeting, approved a contract with an efficiency consultant to perform an efficiency review. The work will begin in January 09. “Going into this recession, I think it’s important to consider several things,” Gardiner said. “First, if past trends continue, we’ll continue to be buffered more than some regions due to our proximity to [Washington,] D.C. Second, the city’s finances will be buffered because real property tax revenue doesn’t fluctuate as much as state and county revenue. Third, if the city focuses on investment and improving the quality of life for residents — such as our
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kyrocketing salt prices caused by higher transportation costs and depleted supplies are forcing many communities around the country to cut back on road salt supplies for the coming winter. However, Hyattsville and other Prince George’s County communities will likely have sufficient amounts of salt to keep roads ice-free this winter, officials say. “We are aware of the difficulties many areas are facing, so the city has taken steps to ensure we have sufficient supplies,” said City Administrator Elaine Murphy. These steps include purchasing magnesium-chloride based deicer, which can be mixed with road salt so that less actual salt is needed to keep roads safe and ice-free. Like other communities, Hyattsville will be spending more
on this year’s supply of road salt. Rates have increased by 18 percent. “We paid our contractor, MidAtlantic Salt, LLC, $61 per ton of salt last year. This year the price is $72 per ton,” Murphy said. While the county reported that its current contract price for road salt is $71, the county’s supplier, International Salt Company, LLC, has also raised prices by $11 per ton in the past year. The county is responsible for deicing 5,000 miles of rural and residential roadways that are not part of incorporated municipalities, according to Susan Hubbard, spokeswoman for the county’s department of public works. “Depending on the severity of the weather, we use approximately 25,000 tons of salt per winter,” Hubbard said. Considering this year’s price increase, the
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Included: The December 10, 2008 Issue of The Hyattsville Reporter—See Center Section