January 13th, 2012 by WCBC Radio

After several years of resisting the notion- even threatening to veto it- Maryland Governor  Martin O’Malley  is now weighing a proposal to shift some of the pension costs for the state’s public school teachers to the local governments that employ them. Such a proposal “has been part of the administrations discussions” as the governor and his aides ready O’Malley’s fiscal 2013 budget and legislative agenda. A spokesman for Maryland’s counties said that the local governments would vigorously oppose any effort to shift teacher pension costs. The concept has been strongly advocated in recent sessions for approval by Senate President Mike Miller who has noted that Maryland is one of only a handful of states that entirely covers those costs with no contribution from local government.  O’Malley says he could support the concept- but some modifications need to be part of the process…