Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) proposed a $25.9 billion budget yesterday that would boost spending on higher education and school construction and give state employees modest pay raises.
Ehrlich called his spending plan "a very solid budget" that addresses the state's fiscal challenges without increasing general sales or income taxes.
The strong economy aided Gov. Robert Ehrlich's budget, but Democrats called it "a scam" that "needs a lot of work."
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But as Democrats started poring over the details last night, they pointed to numerous provisions not trumpeted by the governor, including the elimination of jobs for about 100 state workers and cuts in programs serving senior citizens and other vulnerable residents.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) and other lawmakers suggested that, upon closer inspection, Ehrlich's plan would not look nearly as impressive. Cost-of-living increases being offered to state employees, for example, would probably be swallowed up by expected increases in health care costs, Democrats said.
And they argued that although next year's books would be balanced, the budget does too little to address a chronic gap between revenue and expenditures.
"It's a scam," Miller said. "It's a shell game. . . . We're not very proud of this work product."
The dueling assessments set the stage for what promises to be a couple of contentious months as the Democrat-led legislature works through the Republican governor's spending priorities.
"This is a budget that needs a lot of work," said Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Prince George's), chairman of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.
Ehrlich's plan for the 2006 fiscal year, according to an analysis by legislative staff, closes a shortfall in the state's operating budget through a combination of $323 million in spending cuts, $163 million in transfers from other funds and $68 million in new fees and other revenue.
The proposed cuts were far less severe than expected just a few months ago. In crafting his plan, Ehrlich benefited from a stronger-then-expected economy that has bolstered tax collections in recent months and significantly reduced the projected shortfall in next year's operating budget, which once approached $1 billion.
Over the summer, Ehrlich ordered state agencies to undergo a "strategic budgeting" exercise in which they had to propose how they might operate with only 88 percent of their funding. Few agencies took hits anywhere that large in the budget Ehrlich released yesterday, and many saw increases.
Ehrlich's spending plan, for example, included an additional $43 million in operating funds to the University System of Maryland, which has sustained repeated budget cuts since he took office, resulting in major tuition increases and cost-cutting measures. Ehrlich promised a 5.7 percent increase in spending this month, just days before lawmakers planned to consider overriding his veto of a bill that would have capped tuition increases.
University officials have said the added money would allow them to limit the fall tuition increase for in-state undergraduates to no more than 5.9 percent.
Ehrlich also touted his proposal to spend $155 million on school construction for the budget year beginning in July, a 50 percent increase over what he requested last year. Still, his proposal falls well short of the $250 million a year recommended in 2004 by a task force.
