So how much did Gov. Martin O?Malley?s budget proposal increase over last year?
Was it really only the 4.1 percent O?Malley told reporters Wednesday? “It will have the smallest increase in ongoing spending in five years,” he said, giving an overview at the beginning of a news conference.
Or did it grow by 5.9 percent, as it states in black and white on Page 7 of the new “Budget Highlights” book? And if the lower 4.1 percent is correct, why did last year?s official news release on O?Malley?s first budget tout “a total budget increase of only 2.5%,” calling it “a lower rate of growth than 9 out of the last 10 budgets.”
None of the statements is technically inaccurate. It?s the old apples-and-oranges comparison, and sometimes the apples look better than the oranges.
“It?s whatever is convenient,” House Republican leader Tony O?Donnell said. “It falls into the same realm of spin as ?Everybody?s going to get a taxcut.? ”
The 4.1 percent is based on spending affordability guidelines. These are the spending limits recommended by a joint committee of lawmakers. That is not the entire state budget, a proposed $31.5 billion, but “the money that we control and raise and have the most control over spending,” said Del. John Bohanan, D-St. Mary?s, co-chairman of the spending affordability committee.
It doesn?t include federal funds the state receives for transportation, Medicaid health insurance and many other programs. That money is almost a quarter of the state budget. “The federal government has a lot of say on how we spend that,” Bohanan said.
Using that affordability crate of apples, O?Malley?s budget last year rose 7.5 percent, not the 2.5 percent the total budget rose.
The gross budget number “doesn?t really give a real picture of what?s going,” said Warren Deschenaux, the legislature?s chief fiscal expert. “What we?re trying to do in spending affordability is to get apples to apples.”
By the same affordability measures, former Gov. Robert Ehrlich?s last budget rose 9.5 percent, not the 12 percent increase in the total budget often cited by O?Malley. But Ehrlich?s budget was still the largest increase in 14 years.
