Governor proposes supplemental budget

On Monday, Governor O’Malley submitted a modest supplemental budget to the legislature. It’s easier to decode the items by looking at the Department of Legislative Services' analysis of the supplemental budget.

The budget adds a net $70 million to the budget. More than half of that amount is covered by additional federal funds ($8 million) or dedicated special revenues ($36 million).

The supplemental budget adds $27 million in general funds. This is a net number. The supplemental budget subtracts $30 million in general funds from Medicaid (making more favorable assumptions about enrollment next year) and $10 million from state employee pharmacy benefit costs (based on a re-bid of the pharmacy contract). So the amount of general fund items added to the budget is close to 27 + 30 + 10 = $67 million.

By MBTPI’s reckoning, $22 million reflects normal operating costs that are now being properly recognized in the budget. Some of the items include overtime in state correctional facilities, the costs of youth assigned to private residential facilities by juvenile courts, and increased energy and utility cost for state buildings and the state police vehicle fleet.

There are 24 items totaling $30 million that MBTPI considers “policy” items:

The $2.2 million item for Healthy Families home visiting programs is one that MBTPI has particularly called on the Governor to restore to the budget.

Another large item in the supplemental budget is $8.4 million and 85 new positions to allow the public defender system to comply with a new court ruling that requires the state to offer arrestees legal representation at bail hearings.

The budget conference committee members will consider the items in the supplemental budget as they complete action on the initial budget.