Gov. Wes Moore appeared on Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman’s weekly podcast on Wednesday to make his case for cuts to the state budget and to explain their effects on Anne Arundel County.

Moore’s appearance on the Pittman and Friends podcast — which started in October and features friendly conversations between the county executive and a variety of staff members, community leaders and elected officials — made him the most senior officeholder to have joined Pittman on the show.

“We’ve got challenges coming from Washington, we’ve got challenges in our own budget,” Pittman said. “We’ve got a lot of challenges.”

The relationship between Moore and Pittman, both Democrats, dates back to the early days of Moore’s 2022 gubernatorial campaign. Pittman was one of the first to endorse the author and former Wall Street banker.

After Moore’s election, Pittman was the master of ceremonies at his inauguration. Standing outside of the Maryland State House, Pittman addressed his ties to Annapolis, and the history of enslavement among his ancestors.

Pittman is a direct descendant of a Dr. George Hume Steuart, who emigrated from Scotland in 1721, purchased land and made his fortune in the tobacco industry using enslaved people. Steuart served as Mayor of Annapolis and as a delegate to the colony’s General Assembly. He built a house on land that later became the site of the governor’s mansion.

“Hearing you tell that story, hearing you tell the story of your family, of your background, it was a full circle moment,” Moore said. “And you then say ‘And now we’re here to inaugurate the first African American in the history of the state of Maryland.’ ”

Two years after the speech, Moore faces a $3 billion state budget deficit. His proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, which has faced criticism, would transfer roughly $144 million in state aid onto the shoulders of local governments. About $15 million of that burden will fall on Anne Arundel County. The county has a roughly $2 billion budget.

Moore blamed the deficit on a lack of growth in the state’s gross domestic product. While the GDP in the United States has increased 13% over the last seven or eight years, Maryland’s grew just 3%, he said.

“Don’t even give me the national average, give me just shy of the national average,” Moore said. “You know what we wouldn’t have? A structural deficit. The reason we have a structural deficit is the fact that our economy is stagnant.”

Moore said his administration is focused on investing in industries in which Maryland has a unique edge, including life sciences, IT, artificial intelligence, cyber security and quantum computing.

The pair discussed Moore’s proposed cuts to state universities and the state’s education reform initiative, and his plan to overhaul the state’s tax system, all of which Moore said are the result of his years on Wall Street.

“We had to be very disciplined in this budget,” Moore said. “If it’s effective and sustainable, we’re going to continue funding it. If it was not either sustainable or effective, then there had to be adjustments.”

Overall, the budget includes $2 billion in cuts. Moore said that some of the decreased funding comes from stalling the rapid trajectory in programs that were unsustainable. He pointed to his proposed freeze in funding for community schools, which receive Concentration of Poverty grants to provide more resources to students, such as health care and social services.

There are 39 community schools in Anne Arundel County.

“You have spent the last two years building good will,” Pittman said, “Showing grace to local jurisdictions, to members of the General Assembly, so now you can do this hard thing.”

Moore’s proposed tax reform would consolidate the four lowest income tax brackets at 4.7% and add two high-income brackets: 6.25% for people making at least $500,000 and 6.5% for those making more than $1 million. It would also cut the corporate tax rate from 8.25% to 7.99%.

“You can see where priorities are lying and what things you’re going to focus on when you look at budgets,” Moore said. “If you showed me what you spent money on last month, I could tell what’s important to you because that’s what you’re going to fund and prioritize. Government is really no different.”

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