In an opinion piece, Laslo Boyd, for the Gazette, writes about the projected $1.5 billion structural deficit for FY 2012.

The pattern for quite a number of years has been for the governor and General Assembly to pass, as required by the Maryland Constitution, a balanced budget for the following year, but with the realization that there was a built-in deficit facing the state in the subsequent year. The approved budget always has included a surplus, but never enough to fully cover the out-year shortfall. This situation is the very essence of a structural deficit.