What Dan Cox, Wes Moore are planning for Maryland’s budget surplus

With the state reporting a nearly $2 billion budget surplus last month, a critical question for Maryland’s next governor is not necessarily going to be the common refrain of how to pay, but rather, what to prioritize paying for?

“The new governor of Maryland will have to figure out what to do with the huge budget surplus,” said Sunil Dasgupta, a professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Dasgupta rattled off the state’s rainy day fund, landmark education law (the Kirwan Commission’s Blueprint for Maryland’s Future), a school facilities improvement plan (Built to Learn law), the parks department and strengthening state government as potential recipients of surplus funding, which has largely been a result of federal pandemic aid.

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The Republican candidate for governor Del. Dan Cox, Frederick/Carroll, proposed an additional recipient for the state’s budget surplus when asked about his top priority for the surplus, if elected. He said it should be returned to the people.

“We have $2.5 billion in tax relief that’s sitting in the treasury that needs to come back to the people,” said Cox, in an interview after the gubernatorial debate in Owings Mills on Oct. 12. “Funding for our schools and education is a top priority, but we need to also give tax reliefs so that everyone who’s suffering right now has immediate relief.”

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His Democratic counterpart, nominee Wes Moore responded directly to Cox’s idea during an Oct. 17 interview outside The Foundry Pop-Ups on his walking tour of Hagerstown.

“I want people to have long-term pathways for economic growth,” Moore said. “We have a generational opportunity to not come up with quick ideas that will not have sustainable benefits. I want all families to have a chance for long-term economic growth and long-term economic success.”

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He specified helping to fill up some of the staffing shortages around the state in agencies and departments. For example, during a September interview, Moore said he’d prioritize filling the 100-plus vacancies in the state’s division of parole and probation in order to reduce violent crime.

“We’ve got to invest in things that’s going to get people back to work,” Moore said while in Hagerstown, “giving people fairer and better opportunities for real economic benefits.”

He also discussed investments in transportation and schools as options that would help “create a better pathway for people to be able to gain employment and sustainable economic growth.”

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Incoming administration urged to ‘heed caution’

The state’s Spending Affordability Committee is scheduled to meet Nov. 15, one week after the election, to discuss revenues and expenditures for the current and upcoming fiscal years. The committee is also scheduled to discuss the Transportation Trust Fund, state personnel and the capital budget at the November meeting. The inauguration for the state’s next governor does not take place until Jan. 18, 2023.

The state’s outgoing comptroller, Peter Franchot, urged the governor, the legislature and the incoming administration to “heed caution” with the surplus and forgo additional spending. His comments were made during a September speech.

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Dasgupta said a new legislature and new governor will have their own priorities for the surplus.

“There’s a learning curve for everybody,” Dasgupta said. “That (windfall) presents vastly unknown types of problems that we haven’t dealt with.”

Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Maryland governor race: What Cox, Moore plan for budget surplus