ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - A Maryland board is considering more than $672 million in state budget cuts in response to the impact of the coronavirus on the state budget as part of a budget-balancing plan unveiled Friday by Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration that totals about $1.45 billion.
An addition to the Board of Public Works agenda outlined the proposed budget actions for the new fiscal year, which begins Wednesday when the board is scheduled to meet.
The board, composed of Gov. Larry Hogan, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Nancy Kopp, is weighing cuts spread out throughout state agencies and offices, including health, education and corrections. The plan also includes proposed withholding of cost-of-living adjustments for state employees as well as eliminating vacant positions.
Nick Pepersack, a spokesman for the governor’s budget office, said the unprecedented magnitude of the state revenue losses that Maryland will be facing, combined with the uncertainty of any future aid from the federal government, has forced reductions to practically all areas of the state budget.
“Out of consideration for those impacted most by the COVID-19 pandemic, we put a priority on maintaining funding for public health programs, economic and workforce development initiatives, and social safety net benefits for vulnerable Marylanders,” Pepersack said.
Del. Maggie McIntosh, a Baltimore Democrat who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, was briefed on the plan by the governor’s budget office Friday afternoon. She described the cuts going to the board Wednesday as “not draconian,” without layoffs or furloughs.
“I think it was, in the face of what we have going on right now, about almost as fair as you could get,” McIntosh said.
However, she described the rest of the list leading to the $1.45 billion in budget savings as something she hoped could be avoided with help from the federal government “because nobody wants to do the rest of that list.”
Michael Ricci, a spokesman for Hogan, said the governor is leading a bipartisan effort nationally to secure federal aid to prevent deeper cuts and protect state workers.
“To solve our budget shortfall in Maryland could require reducing up to 25% of our state workforce,” Ricci wrote in an email. “We hope (the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) will work with us to avoid this and be part of this undertaking. We are all in this together.”
Patrick Moran, president of AFSCME Council 3, decried the proposed cuts.
“At a time when Marylanders are facing challenges that haven’t been seen in decades, the Hogan Administration is choosing to actually reduce resources that help Marylanders meet those challenges,” Moran said. “Services and supports in health care, education and human services are being cut just when the need has become greatest.”
Jerry Smith, president of the Maryland Professional Employees Council representing about 5,000 state employees, said it was premature to propose such cuts when the state could still receive a large amount of additional assistance from the federal government. He also said it’s unclear what the state’s revenues will end up being.
“So this proposal they tell us is based on a 10% to 13% revenue shortfall for fiscal year 2021, and not knowing what the end of the fiscal year receipts will be, we feel that making these drastic cuts at this time is premature,” Smith said. “And we’re asking: Why do this if we don’t have to?”
Ben Orr, executive director of the Maryland Center on Economic Policy, also said the budget cuts were premature. He cited a report released recently by the center that found state budget cuts during the Great Recession slowed economic recovery.
“Massive budget cuts that have lasting harmful impacts should not be the first option,” Orr said.
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