I know I covered this in detail last week, but I wanted to let you know that the budget is still in Conference. This means that there were differences between what the Senate passed and what the House passed.
Some of the major differences include:
- The Senate’s version provides an additional $22.7 million for education, which was contingent upon the enactment of SB 994, the Alcohol Tax Increase (passed).
- The Senate restored the $444,000 the House cut to the nonpublic school textbook fund.
- The Senate restored $6.1 million of the $8.1 million that the House cut from the University of Maryland Office.
- The Senate eliminated the $5 million funding for Keeping Maryland Community Colleges Affordable.
- The Senate requires the counties and Baltimore City to reimburse the state for 90% of assessment costs instead of the 50% required by the House.
On Friday, Governor O’Malley submitted a supplemental budget adding additional expenditures of $225.7 million to our already bulging budget.
Keep in mind that all of these programs and expenditures will have to be paid for somehow, and of course, it will come out of every one of our pockets.
We came into session with a deep deficit in desperate need of some tough cuts. We’re going to come out the same way with came in, only now taxes and spending are both higher. Oh and the citizens are the ones with the tighter belt.
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