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O Malley Case Analysis

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Maryland's attempt to balance its budget was a good demonstration of setting spending priorities by O’Malley. During the great recession, Maryland, did not substantially curtail employment or services. O’Malley set his focused spending on health and education and refused to let them fail. His Commitment to the people led him to make budgeting decisions which strengthened the communities.
During his governorship, O’Malley had a huge advantage. As a democratic Governor, the legislature ad 73% democratic majority. This means that his opposition was not significant. As the great Recession caused a fill in the state's revenues, he refused to cut down spending on the issues he believed were necessities. While other states cut down spending by reducing spending on health and education, O’Malley protected public schools and public institutions of higher learning. He then held the social safety net intact and spared the State workforce from substantial job losses.
The gap between actual spending and forecasted grew over $2 billion by 2012. The state’s budget suffered by the hands of the growing rate of unemployment. This growth in unemployment came along with entitlement caseloads, Medicaid and temporary cash assistance. …show more content…

Personnel’s became a target for cutting down spending. Positions were abolished, employees were furloughed for three years and there was a decrease in merit based increases. Along with personnel cutbacks, the state cut back on higher education aid, state agency operations and pay-as-you-go capital programs. In Order to keep spending cuts minimum, he focused his attention on increasing revenues. This resulted in hikes in income tax rates and changes to exemption levels; increasing the sales tax, corporate income tax, fees; and efforts to improve tax

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