Yes, Maryland lawmakers successfully eliminated a $3 billion deficit in the state’s fiscal 2026 budget, but what is left in its wake is a combination of increased taxes and cuts in services.
Budget cuts included reductions in the rainy day fund for unexpected expenses, vacant positions and shifting costs to local governments.
“This was a complicated legislative session for fiscal issues,” said Michael Sanderson, executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties, also known as MACo. “That has a shadow on everything they do when they’re that short on funds.”
Sanderson delivered his assessment of the 90-day Maryland General Assembly legislative session to the Board of Carroll County Commissioners at their meeting Thursday. Sanderson was joined by Jack Wilson, president of MACo, a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that lobbies in Annapolis for all 24 counties in Maryland.
Wilson, who represents Queen Anne’s County in Southern Maryland, said his visit to Carroll was part of a tour to all 24 counties. It’s an opportunity to explain the nonprofit organization.
“I am enjoying the side in seeing how other counties do business at their meetings,” he said. “MACo does its best to take bad bills and make them not so bad. We call those wins, sadly. But honestly, I think that’s the nature of Annapolis for a lot of the rural counties.”
Much of the legislation this session centered on energy, housing and the fiscal 2026 budget.
Sanderson said legislation not directly related to the budget took a fiscal hit. To offset some of the tax increases, the budget included significant budget cuts across various state agencies.
“If it’s going to require a state agency to hire positions to administer a new program, it probably can’t pass in this environment,” he said. “This fiscal stuff of such consequence just changes the debate…There was no way that a (deficit) of this magnitude would leave county governments and services untouched.
“I’m also here to tell you I don’t think the hardship is fully behind us,” he said.
Commissioners listened to the presentation, mentioning that they passed a $581 million operating budget last month. That spending plan takes effect July 1.
District 5 Commissioner Ed Rothstein said his colleagues did a good job of funding Carroll County Public Schools by supplying $13 million over the current funding. The increase in funding came after the Carroll County Board of Education applied and received a waiver from some of the requirements outlined in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.
The Blueprint, passed in 2021, is a 10-year plan to reform Maryland’s public education system by increasing funding and addressing inequities. Local education agencies, or county school systems, that cannot meet Blueprint requirements may apply for a waiver.
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