As Maryland faces a budget deficit, Gov. Wes Moore’s plans for workforce rebuilding are in question
This week, Maryland lawmakers are diving into a nearly $3 billion budget deficit. State workers are anxious about what this means for their jobs, especially since they feel the current staffing levels are pretty low.
The Maryland Chapter of AFSCME, which represents state workers, pointed out that staffing in state agencies is way below what it should be. They’re saying if Maryland wants to be a place where people want to live and work, the state needs to take care of its workers.
Some of Moore’s supporters in the General Assembly are optimistic he’ll stick to his plan to fill those job vacancies. House Majority Whip Jazz Lewis mentioned that even with the tough budget, he believes Moore is committed to rebuilding the workforce.
Moore, a Democrat, is set to unveil his budget proposal for the 2026 fiscal year soon. He’s already mentioned those $2 billion cuts, but how the state will handle the rest of the budget gap is still up in the air.
When he started his term, Moore aimed to rebuild the workforce that shrank under former Gov. Larry Hogan. Just before his inauguration, he noted there were nearly 10,000 job vacancies in state employment, a number confirmed by the workers’ union.
While the Moore-Miller administration has added thousands of positions, they’ve managed to reduce the state employee vacancy rate from 13.4% in January 2023 to 10.33% by August 2024.
Lewis, representing Prince George’s County, is ready for anything in the budget, including a hiring freeze, but he doesn’t expect layoffs. He also pointed out that the state lost a whole generation of potential workers under Hogan.
He stressed that they can’t just pause hiring for years and expect to rebuild. But with these proposed cuts, there’s concern about how it might affect state employees.
When asked if the cuts would impact state workers, Moore said he’s not looking to build someone else’s government. He acknowledged that the state government had been significantly weakened and that fixing it doesn’t mean replicating what others did.
Moore believes they need more people to get the work done but wants to approach it differently. During a Spending Affordability Committee meeting, a fiscal analyst suggested that filling existing vacancies should be a priority before creating new positions.
Moore also announced plans to cut an additional $50 million from the deficit by eliminating wasteful spending across agencies. Senate President Bill Ferguson praised this decision, emphasizing the need to focus on cutting excess before anything else.
