Hogan Seeks Solutions To Md. Budget Problem
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) --- He's not in office yet, but Maryland's governor-elect, Larry Hogan, is already holding budget meetings. Hogan is outlining what what he calls the state's current fiscal crisis.
Pat Warren has details on the governor-elect's plan to get Maryland back on track.
Whether you call it penny pinching, budget tightening or dollar squeezing, it's going to be a rough year.
Governor-elect Larry Hogan is pulling lumps of coal out of Maryland's Christmas stocking.
"We have no money left," Hogan said.
Hogan's campaign promise to roll back taxes and let Marylanders keep more of their money turns out to be a bigger challenge than expected.
"We've taxed too much so obviously new revenue sources are not the solution. We've spent too much so we will have to reduce spending wherever we can and we've borrowed too much so we have to reverse that trend as well," Hogan said.
The state bases the budget crisis of hundreds of millions of dollars. There is a projection that it will come up $300 million short this year and $900 million short in the next two years.
"We've got this huge shortfall and 81 percent of all the money we've spent is mandated and required and programmed," Hogan said. "The non-mandated portion of the budget is 19 percent."
That's like squeezing a billion dollars out of two dimes.
"We don't want to unnecessarily scare anyone, but we don't want to hide the truth from anyone either and I think that's what's been happening for far too long," Hogan said. "We'd rather be honest and transparent and let people see what we're seeing and that's that we've got a tough situation."
Hogan's news conference was more like a warning shot. He told reporters that he's ordered his budget people to come up with a list of options in the next 10 days.
Hogan takes office January 21.
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