The Maryland General Assembly has kicked off its 90-day session in Annapolis, and there are plenty of weighty issues for lawmakers to consider — including how to tackle a $3 billion deficit for the next fiscal year, which starts in July.
Maryland’s Governor is talking a bit about his proposed budget that he will present next week. In it, he said, will be billions of dollars of cuts to try and balance the budget.
But will any taxes get raised on Marylanders or businesses as a result of the budget deficit?
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore joined WTOP’s Shawn Anderson and Anne Kramer on Wednesday to talk about it.
Listen to the interview or read the transcript below.
The below transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Anne Kramer: Walk us through your plans to cut billions of dollars from the state budget. How do you do that? What programs and services suffer as a result of these cuts?
Wes Moore: Well, you know, it’s not about how we’re thinking about suffering. I think it’s about how we’re thinking about streamlining and making sure that we’re not funding on formulas, but we’re funding on results. And part of that means that the government has got to be more efficient. And, you know, we are going to be able to save a significant amount of money just thinking about efficiencies in government, like, you know, consolidating IT and fleet management and the rebasing of budgets. These are things that are long overdue, but they just have not been done. So it’s important that Maryland prioritizes that, and it’s going to start with how Maryland state government does its work.
But it’s also about making sure that you’re funding things that are both effective and sustainable, and if things are not effective and sustainable, you can’t continue to fund them. So this is going to be a season of hard choices for the state of Maryland. But I do believe that when we can be really thorough and really thoughtful and fiscally disciplined and actually invest in growth — because part of the biggest problem we’ve had is that our economy just hasn’t been growing fast enough — if we can invest in the industries, the growth industries that we know are going to be sustainable and effective, and places that Maryland has a unique chance to win at and make it easier for businesses to be able to thrive in Maryland, that is going to help to get us to the growth measurements that we all need.
Shawn Anderson: Efficiency sounds like a great concept, but you still need the money. What about things like dipping into the rainy day fund, or will you call for or support raising taxes on the Maryland citizens or businesses or higher tolls? You got to have some kind of plan on that end of it, don’t you?
Wes Moore: Yeah, but you’re not going to tax your way to growth. You can only grow. You have to be able to invest in industries that can give you a greater sense of, a greater sense of return. I mean, I think, for example, you know about how Maryland has a unique competitive advantage in industries like life sciences or IT — and that includes things like cyber and AI and quantum — or things like aerospace and defense and defense tech.
But if you look at Maryland’s balance sheet, we’re not investing in those areas, which makes absolutely no sense, because some of the greatest assets in the country around those areas are all tethered to the state of Maryland, and so we have got to focus on growth. We’ve got to make sure that we’re growing the middle class and supporting working families, and I think that’s how you’re going to really support your ambitions, but you’re not going to tax your way to greater ambitions.
Anne Kramer: So is that meaning then a ‘no’ to raising any taxes on anybody this time around, if the legislature comes to you and says, yes, we want to do this?
Wes Moore: No, we’re going to work with the legislature and frankly, we also need to see what’s going to happen within the federal government. Because I do think that this new administration is going to have an impact, not just on Maryland, but have an impact on the budgets of many other states. But I know that the budget that we are going to introduce will start with $2 billion worth of cuts, because I do think that we need to focus on basic efficiencies. I do think we need to, you know, address the fact that for the seven years before I became the governor, Maryland’s budget grew by 70%, seven zero, and our growth, our GDP, was basically flat.
And that’s the reason that I inherited, when I came on board, I inherited a multibillion dollar structural deficit. But what I’m saying now in this moment, is I am not just going to pass off a bigger problem or sugarcoat it. We have to actually be able to fix the business model to make sure we’re creating a growing economy, so we can deal with the with the structural deficit that I inherited.
Shawn Anderson: You mentioned President-elect Trump taking office here in less than two weeks, and you have hired a consulting firm to look at what a Trump administration might mean to Maryland when it comes to funding and programs and also things like federal immigration laws. What are you learning from this? What do you look for here in the weeks ahead?
Wes Moore: You know, I think anytime you’re going to have a change in federal administration, you need to prepare. And I’m really proud of the work that this administration and this team has done to prepare for the new incoming administration, regardless of who it was going to be. And you’re absolutely right.
Maryland is uniquely connected to the federal government and to federal policies. I think about the fact that we have around 170,000 federal employees in the state of Maryland — Schedule F, and so when we’re hearing things from the incoming administration like going after Schedule F and being able to remove that layer, these are people who are just career public servants. They have served Democrats and Republicans. They’re not partisan in their work. They’re just simply serving the American people, but that will have a huge impact on our state.
And so you are right that in incoming administrations, you always have to prepare. I will find common ground with anybody, as long as we’re making sure that the priority is making sure that the people of Maryland are going to be protected and the people of Maryland can thrive.
Anne Kramer: Governor, before we let you go we wanted to get the latest on the Key Bridge rebuild. We understand there are supposed to be some preconstruction projects happening, like surveys and collecting of soil samples. Is that still happening this month? Or going to happen if it hasn’t started?
Wes Moore: Yes, the plan is that all that work will continue on this month. You know, we’re hoping that mother nature can cooperate a little bit and get these temperatures up. But we really are encouraged.
When you think about that, less than a year ago, we had one of the most devastating maritime tragedies in our nation’s history happen. And not only were we able to work together to clear the federal channel in record speed and make sure that all the families of those six individuals who we lost, that they were comforted and given closure, that we were able to support all the workers and their families in that time of that tragedy, but also then receiving the bipartisan support for 100% cost share for the rebuilding of the bridge.
I think about how humbling it is that while this tragedy happened during our time, the bridge will be rebuilt on our watch, and that work has already begun.
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