O’Malley unveils $39 billion budget that he says closes shortfall without raising taxes

By Fredrick Kunkle

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley unveiled a $39.3 billion budget Wednesday that offered few new initiatives but that he said would close a projected $421 million deficit without raising taxes and put the state on a path toward removing a structural deficit by 2017.

The budget also proposes more money to hire corrections officers while calling for a modest down payment on an expansion of pre-kindergarten education and continued investment in new-school construction.

O’Malley (D) struck a valedictory note during a news conference on his eighth and final budget proposal. He said the fiscal 2015 budget is the culmination of a tough but realistic approach to spending and taxes that has allowed the state to prosper despite the worst recession in generations, recent cutbacks in federal spending and the effects of last year’s U.S. government shutdown.

Read full article here from The Washington Post