BALTIMORE – Maryland Gov. Wes Moore raised some eyebrows this week by saying the state’s $5.5 billion budget surplus “wasn’t real,” after describing the state’s “fortunate financial position” at the beginning of his term.
Speaking to reporters in Annapolis as the current legislative session winds down, Moore pointed to the evaporation of temporary federal COVID-19 funding to explain Maryland’s transformation from surplus to $3.3 billion structural deficit.
“When you have a one-time infusion of cash, that is not structural surplus,” the Democratic governor said. “That is not math. It’s politics, it’s not math. It’s dark-money gaslighting.”…