Unger said he is concerned primarily

about funding for education and the need for high tech industry growth in the county.

“I think we need better representation in Ocean Pines and Worcester County,” said Unger, a former member of the Ocean Pines Association board of directors who lost his bid for re-election last August after serving one term.

Unger, head of security at the Stowaway Grand Hotel in Ocean City, said the county currently spends about 42 percent of its budget for the schools.

“I want to make sure that we maintain and improve the level of excellence in our school system even if this means a larger percentage of the pie to education,” he said in a press release.

When asked how much he would be willing to increase the percentage of money for education, he said he had no idea, but that in years past, the percentage had been 53 percent or 54 percent. He wants the percentage to be high enough to maintain the amount of money spent per student.

Unger also said he does not know which departments’ budgets might be cut so that education could have more.

“Where it comes from, that’s what Gerry [Mason, the county’s chief administrative officer] and his staff will have to look at,” said Unger, who added that it is Mason and some staff members, not the county commissioners, who prepare the budget.

Unger also discussed funding for schools online at www.oceanpinesforum. coma and wrote that the state of Maryland believes that Worcester is the wealthiest county and therefore, Worcester gets the smallest amount of state aid per student. He then wrote, “When you do the worst, you get the most financial help and when you are the best, you get screwed. We get about $2,500 each per student where Baltimore City gets almost $10,000 per student. Do you know why? Because Worcester County School System is the best in Md.”

When told that state funding does not depend on student success, he said he realized that he should not have written that. The spokesperson for the county Board of Education confirmed that state funding does not depend on student success.

As for the need for high tech industry growth, Unger said he wants the county to be proactive in attracting businesses, especially high tech ones, to the c0unty.

“We’ve never been proactive,” he said.

When asked what he would do to bring such businesses to the county, he said people are in office at the county who work on that issue on a regular basis and he would stay close to the person who is responsible for doing that work.

The director of Economic Development, Jerry Redden, presented the results of a feasibility study for the hoped-for Delmarva Science and Technology Enterprise Park in Pocomoke to the county commissioners at their Feb. 15 meeting. The proposed park would be a green technology park with Wallops Island and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore as regional partners.

Unger is also concerned about the governor’s proposed state budget and went to Annapolis on Wednesday with members of Americans For Prosperity to testify against it.

Unger has served as president of the Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce, on the board of directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Eastern Shore and was chairman of the Zoning Appeals Board in Manchester.