ANNAPOLIS—State officials revised their estimate of general fund revenues upward this month, making what state Comptroller Brooke Lierman called a “slight positive adjustment.”
But the change is “not a dramatic revision,” Lierman said. “Our economic performance has been really in line with our previous estimates.”
Based on their analysis, the Board of Revenue Estimates submitted a revised estimate of general fund revenues for fiscal year 2025 of $25.1 billion and an estimate of $25.3 billion for fiscal year 2026 – a minor change, though a positive one.
“The Board and the Revenue Monitoring Committee will continue to meet and analyze revenue and economic trends in anticipation of December’s estimates,” the board said in its September letter to Gov. Wes Moore. The board updates its numbers three times a year.
“Today’s presentation represents a moderate increase in our revenues, our economy remains stable, and we are not in a recession,” said State Treasurer Dereck E. Davis, a member of the board. “And that’s not a small thing to say. There have been predictions, and we’ve been able to largely avoid that, so to me that’s good news.”
Despite the positive news, though, the state continues to face massive budget challenges. The state’s Department of Legislative Services fiscal said last January that Maryland will start running a structural deficit in fiscal year 2025 that will multiply nearly sixfold by fiscal year 2029, when it is projected to hit $2.93 billion.