Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson on Friday highlighted small cuts and safety nets against lapsing federal funding that are baked into the forthcoming budget deal, bringing more clarity to the state’s fraught fiscal situation.

Ferguson, House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones and Gov. Wes Moore, all Democrats, announced Thursday that they are aligned on a budget deal to close the $3.3 billion and growing budget deficit that Maryland is currently facing.

With major restoration to projects of importance like the Developmental Disabilities Administration and rape crisis programming, state leaders plan many small budget cuts to make ends meet.

“I think it’s really important to note that, while a million dollars here and $2 million there doesn’t sound like much in a $67 billion budget of $27 billion in general funds, it adds up,” Ferguson said in Annapolis. “When there are hundreds of small cuts that are going to be made by the committees, those add up to hundreds of millions.”

Ferguson said Friday that a reduction in vacant or newly proposed government employee positions is likely to be “one of the biggest numbers” among the $500 million in additional cuts that the legislature has made beyond the $1.5 billion in straight cuts to government services Moore proposed.

One of the larger remaining cuts in the budget is a $111 million reduction in funds for the university system.

Ferguson said that lawmakers continue to look through budget documents to identify places where program adjustments can be made or where grant sizes can be altered to continue to reduce spending. They have also asked the heads of Moore’s executive agencies to provide additional cuts to their departments to the tune of $100 to $125 million.

“It will be all of these multitude of cuts across state government that will add up to get to the larger cut at the end of the day,” he said.

Ferguson also announced “federal government spending triggers” to ensure that people who rely on federally funded social services will not be without them.

In the first two months of his nonconsecutive second term, President Donald Trump’s administration has slashed spending across government agencies, leaving officials concerned about the future of social safety net programming like Medicare, Medicaid and FEMA, in addition to functions of the U.S. Department of Education.

“I think a core part of this is that we know the uncertainty from the Trump administration will only grow as the months move forward,” Ferguson said. “Now the [continuing budget resolution] is passed. We did not have a government shutdown. But we know that there is an empowered executive administration that is ready to make billions of dollars of cuts that will have a disproportionate impact on Maryland.”

Explaining the “triggers,” Ferguson said lawmakers are looking to models from other states about how to respond to cuts.

For example, the federal government pays for 90% of Maryland’s Medicaid, and the state picks up the remaining 10%. If that were to change to a 50-50 split, Ferguson said the trigger would allow between 90 and 120 days for officials to figure out what money can be reallocated to try to protect as many recipients as possible.

The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee adopted a similar strategy for funding increases in Moore’s Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act, or the bill to adjust measures in the state’s landmark Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education policy.

Under amendments to Moore’s bill adopted by the Senate committee, funding increases would freeze if December’s revenue projections from the Maryland Board of Revenue Estimates or federal funds decrease by 3.75%, respectively. A combined decrease in revenue projections and federal funding that flows into the state equal to 5% would also trigger a freeze in funding increases.

The Senate Education, Energy, and Environment Committee needs to amend the bill’s education policy aspects before it can be debated by the full chamber.

Jones, Moore, and Ferguson also clarified that new taxes will be imposed on Marylanders in the forthcoming budget deal, including an increase in the tax rate for sports betting and cannabis sales, new tax brackets for people making over $500,000 and $1 million annually, and a 3% tax on technology services like cloud storage and website platform providers.

When asked if the imposition of this tax would counter Moore’s plans to rely more on the tech industry to invigorate the state’s sluggish economy, Ferguson said, “No.”

“I think we are very mindful of this modernization of our tax system” because of the shift from an economy of goods to one of services, he said.

“What we know is happening is that technology is displacing humans working, and there are big concerns about what that looks like moving forward, and technology is now infused in everything,” Ferguson said. “Every operation is now a technology company because it is embedded in everything that we do, and it has become, in and of itself, a good.”

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