Hogan draws line for legislators on next year’s budget – MarylandReporter.com
In an unusual preview of next year’s budget not due for weeks, Gov. Larry Hogan drew the line for legislators already planning to spend more money than he wants.
Hogan said he will spend every dollar the law forces him to do through legislative mandates and formulas, but he won’t spend any more even if the legislature tries to force him by “fencing off” extra spending, much as they did on $68 million in school aid last year.
“Fencing off money will not work,” Hogan assured legislators. “We’ll be happy to hold onto the money and build up our reserves,” since the unspent money goes to the bottom line.
Hogan also said he will seek $400 million in “modest and reasonable tax cuts” that will improve the economy and provide relief to as many as a million Marylanders, especially “struggling Maryland families, retirees and small business owners.”
“The governor’s remarks today were short on details and left out key pieces of the puzzle,” said Benjamin Orr, director of the Maryland Center on Economic Policy. “What Marylanders should be paying attention to is what services and programs they will lose under the governor’s proposals. Gov. Hogan promised a significant tax cut while also pledging to increase spending on roads and schools, but didn’t say where the money will come from.”
According to Orr, the reported cost over five years of the tax cuts is equivalent to about $80 million a year, more than all state funding for local health departments.
“Because, as the governor pointed out, less than 20 percent of spending is discretionary, there is a very short list of options where those cuts can come from, including higher education, public safety, hospitals and other health services, and juvenile services,” Orr said in a statement.
He pointed out that the governor’s $17.1 billion budget proposal for fiscal would be about $484 million less than what the Spending Affordability Committee recommended and $236 million below what the Department of Legislative Services said is needed to maintain current service levels.
