ANNAPOLIS — Budget projections show the state running $1.5 billion in the red by next July 1, and some Democrats in the General Assembly are grumbling that the O’Malley administration is not showing enough leadership or working closely enough with legislators to solve the problem.
‘‘They may have a good game plan that just hasn’t been rolled out yet,” said Del. John L. Bohanan (D-Dist. 29B) of California. ‘‘It’s our hope and expectation that we proceed down this path arm-in-arm.”
Some collaboration seems to be taking shape. Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) invited top budget writers from both chambers to Government House on Wednesday for dinner and budget discussions.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. was encouraged that legislative leaders were included in the talks, but said they’re no closer to reaching a consensus.
A comprehensive approach that includes spending reductions, tax increases and expanded gambling is needed, maintained Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach. ‘‘We’re not just going to engage in a tax-and-spend frenzy.”
But O’Malley irked some lawmakers this week when he told local officials they would not shoulder the brunt of the state’s budget woes. That’s a politically popular thing to say, legislators said, but difficult to deliver because local aid accounts for more than 40 percent of the state’s general fund.
‘‘You’re not going to wish your way to $1.4 billion [in cuts],” said House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis.
‘‘When 40 percent of your spending goes to one thing, it has to be some part of the solution,” said Sen. Patrick J. Hogan (D-Dist. 39) of Germantown
O’Malley is scheduled to present $200 million in recommended agency cuts at the July 11 Board of Public Works meeting — he is expected to brief the General Assembly’s presiding officers beforehand — but that represents only the first step of closing the budget gap.
Members of three legislative panels that deal with budget and tax issues heard a frightful report Wednesday on the level of cuts necessary to balance the state’s books in fiscal 2009 without raising new revenues.
It would mean slashing local aid by $652 million, severely cutting funding for public education and redirecting half the cost of teacher pensions to local governments, increasing tuition at state colleges and universities, freezing state employee salaries, deleting 200 corrections jobs, reducing money for stem cell research and closing some health and public safety centers throughout the state.
Although such drastic steps outlined in the so-called ‘‘doomsday budget” almost certainly won’t occur, lawmakers said it demonstrates the severity of Maryland’s budget crisis.
‘‘The question is, ‘Are we mean in what we take away or are we mean in what we force people to pay?’” said Del. Jon S. Cardin (D-Dist. 11) of Owings Mills.
Senate Minority Leader David R. Brinkley (R-Dist. 4) of New Market charged that the more-than two-hour briefing by the legislature’s budget analysts was a ‘‘scare tactic” to justify large tax increases. The briefing was put together at Busch and Miller’s request.
Other Republicans questioned the sense of increasing taxes one year after a spending binge that included a record amount of school construction money and more investment in programs such as stem cell research.
‘‘It’s like we gave a little increase in the budget this year, and now we’re going to take it back,” said Del. Adelaide C. Eckardt (R-Dist. 37B) of Cambridge.
And everyone will feel the pain, lawmakers said.
‘‘No person and no group can feel they’re going to be passed over by the storm,” said House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve (D-Dist. 17) of Gaithersburg.
Is borrowing an option?
Maryland officials who revere the state’s triple-A bond rating say borrowing money to cover the deficit is neither a feasible nor a sustainable option.
And it’s not on the O’Malley administration’s radar screen.
‘‘The problem is it’s a structural deficit, not something that will occur for one year,” said Stephen J. Kearney, O’Malley’s communications director. ‘‘You can’t keep borrowing to catch up with a structural problem.”
When New Jersey tried to borrow its way out of a deficit in the 1990s under Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R), it created numerous long-term problems, Kearney said.
George Washington University President Stephen J. Trachtenberg, attending the Greater Washington Board of Trade meeting in Bethesda on Thursday where O’Malley addressed the budget deficit, said borrowing money to balance the budget would be a mistake.
‘‘It’s an escape from financial discipline,” he said. ‘‘All you’re doing is passing the debt on to the next generation of taxpayers.”
State and local lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agreed.
‘‘The concept of borrowing to pay operating funds would be fiscal malpractice,” Brinkley said.
‘‘Our bond ratings are not built on borrowing, but on the capacity to pay back that money,” said Montgomery County Council President Marilyn J. Praisner (D-Dist. 4) of Calverton. ‘‘So borrowing beyond capacity would definitely put our bond rating at risk. It’s a vicious cycle with us chasing our tail.”
But just about everything else should remain on the table until a plan is formulated, lawmakers said. And that’s why there’s some wariness about O’Malley’s pledges to hold some areas harmless.
‘‘These are initial stakeout positions, but that doesn’t mean that they hold in the end,” Bohanan said. ‘‘... It’s the beginning of the race. Some are ahead of others, but in the end, we’ll all be crossing the finish line together.”
Staff Writers C. Benjamin Ford and Janel Davis contributed to this report.
