ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Larry Hogan today delivered the keynote address at the 2022 Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) summer conference in Ocean City, touting the accomplishments that state and county leaders have forged together over the last eight years. Watch

Excerpts from today’s address include:

Changing Maryland For The Better: “Eight years ago at this convention, I pledged to bring fiscal responsibility and common sense to our state capital, to make Maryland more competitive, and our state government more responsive, to provide tax relief for families, small businesses, and retirees, and to focus on rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and on all theses things and more, together we have taken care of business.”

Local Funding For Transportation Projects: “This year, in my last legislative session, we worked across the aisle with legislative projects to successfully broker a major bipartisan agreement which dramatically increases transportation funding for local governments. Local jurisdictions will now receive $663 million more in state funding for transportation projects.”

Universal Broadband: “Last year, we launched ‘Connect Maryland,’ which included a total new investment of $400 million in state funding in order to fully address the digital divide for everyone in Maryland. And last month, we announced more than $127 million of Connect Maryland grant awards for local jurisdictions, internet service providers, and educational and community organizations in order to provide broadband service to households that are unserved or underserved.”

Promises Kept: “Eight years ago at this convention, I said that the way to govern this state effectively was with a strong partnership between the state government and our local leaders working together, and we have spent the past eight years doing exactly that—taking care of business.”

More Stops on the Lower Shore

Continuing his four days of events on the Eastern Shore, the governor also made several stops throughout the region:

MCIN Lower Shore Coalition. At the Maryland State Police Barracks in Berlin, the governor announced the creation of a new Lower Shore coalition of the Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network (MCIN), a coordinated criminal justice network to target higher instances of gang-related crime, in addition to drug, firearm, and human trafficking. Learn more about today’s announcement.

Pocomoke River Wildlands Trail. Governor Hogan attended a celebration to mark the construction of a trail by the Department of Natural Resources that will connect the towns of Snow Hill and Pocomoke with Pocomoke River State Park.

Lunch With Community Leaders. In Snow Hill, the governor had lunch with a number of community leaders, and presented a citation to outgoing Salisbury University president Dr. Charles Wight.

Ocean City Boardwalk. Governor Hogan visited the Ocean City Boardwalk, one of his time-honored summer traditions as governor.