Hogan Introduces Budget Plan
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ)—Balance Today, Balance Tomorrow, that's Governor Larry Hogan's theme as he rolls out his plan for the fiscal year that starts in July.
Pat Warren has the details.
In addition to swearing his oath of office, Governor Hogan promised Marylanders to get the government off their backs and out of their pockets. And he rolled out a budget he thinks will do that.
"Hopefully it will have a great impact on their lives. Hopefully they'll feel the state is getting back on track," said Hogan.
What's in Hogan's budget? The state has revenue of 16.4 billion dollars. How much money will the state spend? 16.4 billion dollars.
It'll take a 2% cut to state agencies to make that balance, but there will be no new taxes or fees.
"Marylanders didn't feel very good about what we'd been doing, the status quo has not been acceptable that's why an overwhelming majority of Marylanders in 20 out of 23 counties elected me as governor to chart a new course and we're going to take the actions they want us to take," said Hogan.
The House and Senate leadership will have something to say about that.
"This is just the first step of a very difficult process," said Senate President Mike Miller.
"He was very gracious in saying he was open to discussion on all the issues that are in front of us, but he was committed to balancing the budget," said House Speaker Mike Busch.
"You can't have everything you want when you're cutting the budget," said Miller.
And that includes specifics--there were no specifics, some general discussion about cuts but no furloughs or layoffs are planned.
The governor says there will also be tax cuts this session, but that's a discussion for another day.