EASTON — When entering last year’s General Assembly, the fiscal situation Maryland faced needed serious attention. In some ways, that fiscal pressure has increased since.
Michael Sanderson, the executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties, briefed the Talbot County Council on those financial troubles and more during a special meeting Tuesday.
He told council members a budget shortfall of potentially $600 to $800 million could be facing lawmakers in Annapolis. Fixing that is “not easy, but not impossible,” he said.
“There are a couple of years of that in our forecast, and then it gets really serious,” Sanderson said.
When fiscal year 2028 arrives, Sanderson warned that the state will run out of money in its trust fund that’s been used for The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s expansive and optimistic education initiative.
Many counties have been under significant financial pressure due to state requirements stemming from Blueprint. Sanderson says the state will be feeling that level of pressure soon.
“The counties are feeling it now,” he said. “The state doesn’t really feel it for a couple years down the road, and that has been a meaningful disconnect.”
Without significant timeline adjustments for Blueprint from the state, MACo feels there will continue to be that disconnect between the fiscal situation of the state versus the situation counties are facing. State funding for transportation, though, is already causing serious impacts, Sanderson said.
“The canary in the coal mine that’s already chirping is in transportation,” he told the council members. “ … The conversation in the summer time is sometimes ambiguous and hazy and that sort of thing. But this year, not so much. They were just saying, ‘If there aren’t already shovels in the ground, we can’t afford the next thing.’”
The Maryland Department of Transportation has been forced to delay many statewide projects amid a significant budget deficit. Earlier this month, the department released a draft plan that showed $1.3 billion in cuts from the state’s six-year transportation plan.
Sanderson noted the “state’s transportation challenge is not a function of the Key Bridge” rebuild, which is set to begin next year.
At the county level, council Vice President Pete Lesher said Talbot County is “finding itself in a slightly different place” than others.
“We are going through a number of capital construction projects, our health department, our sheriff’s office, our 911 center,” Lesher said, emphasizing some of those projects are receiving “pandemic-era related funds” from the federal government.
“The pinch that a lot of counties are feeling right now, the income tax, is not yet being felt in Talbot County,” Lesher said. “We can look around at our neighbors and see what is coming, even though we are not yet in that position now.”
Lesher thanked Sanderson and MACo President Johnny Olszewski Jr. for their work to represent the counties at the state level year-round.
“We know that we are stronger together in Annapolis,” Lesher said. “And we see every year what a powerful voice MACo is for all of us jointly.”
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