Maryland’s top fiscal officers said Thursday that they expect the state to collect slightly more in taxes and other revenue this year and next year, though they stressed that the “modest” increase does not change their view of a sluggish economy.

“I remain cautiously optimistic about Maryland’s economic performance, and the resilience of our economy overall,” Comptroller Brooke Lierman said during a meeting of the state’s Board of Revenue Estimates.

The board estimated that the state will collect nearly $25.1 billion for its general fund in the current 2025 fiscal year — an increase of $88.4 million since the board’s last estimate in March. That funding comes primarily from personal income tax collections, as well as corporate and sales taxes, lottery revenues and other sources.

New estimates for the following 2026 fiscal year — which begins July 1, 2025 — indicate revenues will total $25.3 billion. The slightly less than 1% increase between the two years is a continuation of a “slow but positive” trend, Lierman said.

Maryland lawmakers and Gov. Wes Moore’s administration will use Thursday’s update and another scheduled for December to craft the next state budget when they return to Annapolis for the annual 90-day legislative session in January.

Moore’s top fiscal adviser, Budget Secretary Helene Grady, said the “very modest positive adjustment” is helpful but doesn’t make much of a difference as the administration puts together its budget plan.

“It doesn’t materially alter in any way the challenges that we face,” Grady said of that plan.

In July, Moore initiated just under $150 million in cuts to the state budget he and lawmakers agreed to in April and that was enacted July 1. The “targeted” cuts affected many state agencies, including salary adjustments for public defenders and grants aimed at training police officers. They were needed because of increasing health care and child care programs, Moore said.

The upgraded revenue outlook Thursday was a reversal after five consecutive meetings in which the revenue estimates board routinely downgraded revenue expectations.

Lierman pointed out the changed trend but emphasized it was “not a dramatic revision.” Economic trends in the state were largely the same, she said, including an underperformance of sales tax collections and an overreliance on “volatile” sources such as personal and corporate income taxes.

The governor will announce his next budget plan in January, and lawmakers will vet and change it in the following few months.

Democrats, who control both branches of government, have disagreed on how to address the sluggish revenue picture — a problem that’s contributing to a $3.3 billion structural deficit within a few years.

Some have pushed for a tax overhaul, primarily one targeting income taxes for corporations and higher individual earners in order to avoid what they believe will be further cuts to government programs. Others have pumped the brakes on those ideas, including the governor through his often-repeated stance that he has a “very high bar” for new taxes.