Posted under Budget
P. Kenneth Burns of Maryland Politics Today wrote the following today about the Martin O’Malley’s budget:
While Governor Robert Ehrlich (R) started to hold the line on fiscal responsibility, the budget grew, but slowly. Since Governor O’Malley has been in office, the operating budget has ballooned to two digits.
Actually, as the Baltimore Sun recently reported, the budget O’Malley proposed this year isn’t much bigger than the last budget Ehrlich proposed:
O’Malley is proposing a general fund (the part of the budget that is funded by state tax dollars) of $14.4 billion. That’s 1.3 percent less than last year’s budget of $14.6 billion and even a bit smaller than the budget from the year before. In fact, it’s only about $250 million more than Ehrlich’s last budget.
The $250 million increase in O’Malley’s budget is a less than 2% increase from the budget Ehrlich proposed three years ago. I’m not exactly sure what the phrase “ballooned to two digits” means, but it’s clearly inaccurate.
5 Responses to “Budget Fact Check: O’Malley v. Ehrlich”
P. Kenneth Burns on 04 Feb 2009 at 8:24 pm #
Actually, I remember seeing a graphic in the Baltimore Sun where Ehrlich’s budgets were below $10 billion. Also my column was NOT about O’Malley’s budget, it is about the needing to change the anti-business climate in Maryland. Nice try.
Judd Legum on 04 Feb 2009 at 9:03 pm #
Here were Ehrlich general fund budgets:
FY2004: 10.4B
FY2005: 11.2B
FY2006: 12.3B
FY2007: 14.1B
http://mlis.state.md.us/2007RS/budget_docs/All/2007_Fiscal_Briefing.pdf
O’Malley’s budget this year (FY2010) is only about $250 million more than Ehrlich last budget. Your post said that since O’Malley has been in office the state budget has “ballooned.” The facts don’t back it up.
P. Kenneth Burns on 04 Feb 2009 at 9:10 pm #
Ummm, you are looking at the general fund. I am talking about the operating budget.
Judd Legum on 05 Feb 2009 at 8:31 am #
If you review the source I linked to in my comment, considering the operating budget rather than the general fund makes no difference in the analysis. They are effectively the same.
If you want to provide some facts to back up your point, I’m happy to update my post.
John Blutarski on 07 Feb 2009 at 7:47 pm #
Mr. Legum,
I think you are confusing the “Operating” Budget with the “Overall” budget.
Ehrlich’s First Year Total Budget after Thornton $22 Billion and some change
Ehrlich’s Last Year Budget with More Thornton $28 Billion and some change
O’Malleys budget grew $2 Bill each year – this proposed budget on grows $200 million until the Federal Porkulus kicks in and then I suspect the States total budget will ballon to about $33.4 Billion
The State Government loves to play the numbers, always looking like they are cutting – the final number is the one that matters!