Hughes Cuts $52 Million From Budget: Md. Legislators to Oppose Budget Cuts for Next Year
ANNAPOLIS. Dec. 4 Gov. Harry Hughes today announced $52 million in'cuts in this yearÛªs state budget, including hiring freezes and some sharp trims in services, to compensate for a sudden drop-off in state funds caused, he said, by the national recession.</br></br>The reductions, which include an average spending cut of nearly 2 percent in state departments, usher in what Hughes described as a period of ÛÏbelt- tighteningÛ after several years of huge surpluses that brought tax cuts and large increases in state aid to Maryland citizens.</br></br>ÛÏI donÛªt see that in the making again,Û the governor said today of the tax reductions of his first year in office. ÛÏThe problem now is keeping our head above water.Û</br></br>Hughes, who had surpluses of $300 million and more to work with in his efforts to resolve problems dining his first 18 months in office, now has to</br></br>Even as Hughes outlined the austerity measures, a parade of witnesses was appearing before a legislative committee to protest his administrationÛªs new limits on state Medicaid funding, proposed because of a projected deficit of $50 million in state funding for the program this year.