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Beth Greenland considers every penny invested in the state's Transitioning Youth initiative as money well spent. The Towson resident has witnessed how the program has helped her 23-year-old son Andrew, who was born with a rare genetic disorder that left him blind and cognitively impaired, secure two jobs and lead a productive life.

So Greenland is among hundreds of developmental disabilities advocates urging Gov. Martin O'Malley and other state decision-makers to support what they say is an already underfunded system that leaves thousands of at-risk Marylanders without proper care.

The appeal comes as O'Malley gets set to propose more than $400 million in reductions at next week's Board of Public Works meeting to fill a yawning gap between revenues and expenditures for fiscal 2009.

"I get that when there are budget cuts, you have to look at everything, but it doesn't make sense to make these cuts at the cost of the lives of the vulnerable citizens of Maryland," Greenland said at a news conference Wednesday at the Arc of Baltimore's Dundalk Day Center. "People like Andy deserve to have a chance to live with people who care about them and make contributions in the community and the people that work with them deserve to make a reasonable living."

For organizations that rely on state aid, budget cuts of up to 5 percent that O'Malley sought to identify within all state agencies last month could be devastating.

More than 18,000 Marylanders are on a waiting list for services from the state Developmental Disabilities Administration, advocates said, and more than half of them are classified as being in crisis. At the same time, Maryland, the wealthiest state in the nation as measured by median household income, ranks 43rd in the nation on developmental disabilities spending, according to a 2008 study by the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities at the University of Colorado.

"Our community has been advocating for an increase in resources and now we're fighting cuts," said Brian T. Cox, executive director of the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council. "It's like a double whammy."

Advocates fought hard earlier this year to include a 2.7 percent cost of living increase for community health providers in the current budget. Now they fear all or part of it may be on the chopping block. An extra $10.6 million in unanticipated lottery revenues has already been dispensed to pay higher wages, so repealing it would be damaging to ongoing services and personnel.

"The impact on staff, and therefore on the people they support, is just a terrible blow to their morale and not to mention the ability to pay their own bills," said Laura Howell, executive director of the Maryland Association of Community Services, which advocates for improved developmental disabilities services.

"To say that you're not going to get any increase, why not go work at Wal-Mart, why not go work somewhere where it's much less demanding, and you're probably going to make the same salary."

O'Malley (D) was circumspect Wednesday about what services his recommendations would cut. The governor declined to give immunity even to the closely guarded budgets for public safety, higher education and health care. He also did not rule out the possibility of furloughs for state government employees if the economy does not improve.

"We are down to things that I think all of us agree are priorities and unfortunately some of those priorities are going to have to be scaled back slightly," he told reporters.

While O'Malley said his administration has made progress in helping the developmentally disabled, he acknowledged the dearth of funding endangers that trend even before the pending round of cuts.

"Sometimes in the ebb and flow of life, you take five steps forward and one step back," the governor said. "It doesn't mean that we won't recoup this lost ground in the future, but right now some of these cuts are going to appear that we're moving backwards rather than moving forward."

Developmental disabilities advocates plan to hold a Wednesday morning rally on Lawyer's Mall in Annapolis before the Board of Public Works convenes in a last-ditch plea to leave their funding intact. On Wednesday, they stuffed hundreds of envelopes with letters to O'Malley, Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D) and Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D).

"That's the wrong place to cut," Greenland said of the DDA budget. "You talk about an investment that makes a huge difference in people's lives."

Feeling the pinch

Many other state-funded agencies that work with the developmentally disabled also are dreading budget reductions.

Donna B. Bennett, executive director for Alternatives for Youth & Families in Charlotte Hall, said she has laid off four workers earlier this year and deferred raises and retirement benefits to 44 other employees for two years.

"We've been trying to find pennies to rub together for the last year with some of the cuts that have come before," Bennett said. "There just isn't anything to cut more than we have unless we start cutting programs."

The worsening economy has left agencies with few options to replace lost revenues and little hope of a quick turnaround.

"There's really very little more that we can do," said Harriet S. Yaffe, executive director of the Arc of Southern Maryland, which had to increase the deductible on health insurance this year to maintain coverage for employees. "We will essentially have to live off our savings and try to increase fundraising in a climate that is not exactly great."

Contributions are down at a time when they're in great demand, because donors have less disposable income to part with.

"For a group that is potentially going to get a cut in their public funding, the opportunities to replace that with private funding are much more difficult given that foundations and companies and individuals are feeling a lot of economic pain themselves," said Matthew H. Joseph, executive director of Advocates for Children and Youth.

State revenue estimates for the current fiscal year are $432 million below earlier projections.

"It's going to be a rough ride, and there's no cavalry coming to save us," said Del. Murray D. Levy (D-Dist. 28) of La Plata, a budget expert who expects the economy to worsen, creating a $1.2 billion shortfall for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2009.

That would mean another 7 percent to 8 percent cut to the $15 billion general fund budget that spares few, he added. "When you've got to cut 7 percent out of that, you can't get there by excluding a lot of people. It's going to be broad, and it's going to be deep."

That outlook worries Bennett, whose organization provides services to about 75 youths with mental illnesses and their families. Its $2.7 million annual budget is primarily state funded, so any cut could be crippling.

"I'm not sure that we'd be able to keep the doors open, and I'd be very concerned about the level of care that the children and families in Southern Maryland are getting," she said. "Southern Maryland isn't getting the level of services that we require [now] and to cut them any more is unrealistic."

The cuts may have been preventable had O'Malley heeded Republicans' calls to rein in budget growth, said House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Dist. 29C) of Lusby.

"If we would have displayed some restraint in spending, we wouldn't have put so many agencies and so many priorities in jeopardy," he said. "But because the O'Malley administration raised massive and historic tax increases while increasing spending at the same time, a downturn in the economy has combined to put everything at risk."

The situation is bleak for managers who could be forced to lay off staff and halt services if reductions are imposed.

"We're still financially healthy, but it's getting scary," said Yaffe, of the Arc of Southern Maryland. Her organization has run a deficit for several years to pay higher employee wages. "Because we've … saved money over the years, that's the only reason I can sleep. Every once in a while I think if it gets really drastic, what would I cut, and I don't really know."