Standoff over $20M Northrop Grumman loan has Anne Arundel County sweating

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With a $20 million state loan promised to defense contractor Northrop Grumman hanging in the balance, the Anne Arundel County Executive’s office is very concerned about the aerospace’s company’s future in the county.

“To say we are worried by this latest legislative parlor game would be putting it mildly,” said Owen McEvoy, spokesman for Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh on Monday.

The Baltimore Sun reported that General Assembly leaders have not yet scheduled a vote on a $20 million loan promised to Northrop Grumman to keep 10,000 jobs in the state. That money is part of a $37.5 million tax-credit package promised over five years for the defense contractor, if it keeps those employees in Maryland.

The loan was approved as part of the state budget last session but is now caught in a fight in Annapolis between Gov. Larry Hogan and Democratic leaders in the General Assembly over $80 million in state aid for teacher pensions, school renovations, Medicaid reimbursements and demolition of the Baltimore City Detention Center the governor held back last month.

While the governor was determining whether to spend those funds, the Sun reported that Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch canceled a meeting of the Legislative Policy Committee, which has final approval over the Northrop deal.

“In a demonstration of pure political spite, the General Assembly is waffling on promised support for our county’s largest private-sector employer and its more than 10,000 employees,” said McEvoy, from the county executive’s office. “We hope that the members of our delegation who represent the area that includes Northrop Grumman will stand up for their constituents and call on their party leadership to fulfill their promise.”

The legislature earlier this year approved a plan fenced-off that money, which had been moved from the state’s so-called rainy day account. Lawmakers stipulated an all-or-nothing spending requirement on the governor for those funds. Hogan earlier this month decided not to spend them.

Northrop Grumman declined to comment and deferred all questions to the state.

The standoff does not affect the tax credits approved for the company.

The defense contractor is the largest private employer in Anne Arundel County. The assistance bill was highly controversial during the last legislative session, with business and county leaders calling it a necessary measure to keep 10,000 jobs in Maryland while opponents called it a major tax break for a very profitable company.

Daily Record reporter Bryan P. Sears contributed to this article.