The Board of Revenue Estimates (BRE) voted to reduce the revenue projections for the State by $35.3 million for fiscal 2017, and increased projections for fiscal 2018 by $2.3 million. The BRE cited the Trump Administration’s civilian federal hiring freeze as a great influence on its decision.

From Comptroller Franchot’s statement:

While our economy greatly benefits from the federal workforce, we must also do everything we can to support and grow nongovernment industries and enterprises, especially in the bio-health and life sciences sector, IT and cybersecurity, and manufacturing. And we must continue our commitment to funding public schools and investing in higher education.

At the same time, we must continue to make prudent decisions that keep our state’s fiscal house in order. As this new economic forecast indicates, we don’t expect to see any major increases in employment, personal income, and wages; a continuing reminder that this economic recovery hasn’t felt like a recovery for so many hardworking Maryland families across our state.

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The fiscal realities we face require us to invest in the things that we need, and forego many of the things that we simply want. This is the same principle that so many households and business owners use when planning and executing their own budgets, and we have a solemn responsibility to do the same as their elected representatives.