Unionized state workers plan to protest Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposed $213 million in spending cuts today, saying the budget trimming would harm the state's ability to promote public safety and protect its most vulnerable residents.
At the same time, O'Malley faces criticism from Republicans who see the proposed cuts as political cover for tax increases, rather than a real effort to solve Maryland's projected $1.5 billion budget shortfall.
The governor has scheduled a news conference today to officially unveil the proposal, but copies of the 12-page list leaked out over the weekend. With the possibility that nearly 150 state jobs would be eliminated as a result of the cuts - most of them positions that are currently vacant - the strongest reaction so far has come from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
"These budget cuts undermine Maryland's public safety and put its at-risk children in greater jeopardy," said Joe Lawrence, a spokesman for the union.
The largest of the cuts - which would affect both the budget year that ended June 30 and the one that began July 1 - are targeted at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. They would impose lower Medicaid reimbursements for doctors and stricter limits on the number of hospital days Medicaid would cover. The expansion of prenatal care programs would be slowed, and administrative funding for drug treatment would be cut.
Lorraine Sheehan, the co-chairwoman of Medicaid Matters, an advocacy group, said small cuts to state health programs can have substantial impacts on people's lives. Many programs have already been cut to the bone, she said.
"We say it's just administrative funding, and then we wonder why we can't get people in state government to respond to inquiries or process applications," Sheehan said.
Other reductions include a 1 percent cut to higher education and a $1.5 million cut to the state police. Other proposed cuts involve shifting costs to federal grant programs and revising enrollment estimates for undersubscribed programs.
Senate Minority Leader David R. Brinkley said O'Malley doesn't yet appear to have made the hard choices necessary to balance the budget. The $213 million in cuts amount to less than 1.5 percent of the state's $15 billion general fund. "You don't see anything here where they're absolutely eliminating a program, saying it's something obsolete and we don't need it," said Brinkley, a Frederick County Republican.
O'Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said the cuts the governor will unveil today are just the first step in closing a budget shortfall he inherited when he took office in January.
andy.green@baltsun.com
