Maryland closes Fiscal Year 2022 with $2B surplus
BALTIMORE -- Maryland closed its books for the Fiscal Year 2022 with a revenue surplus of $2 billion in its general fund, Comptroller Peter Franchot announced Wednesday.
It's the second straight year of what Franchot's office called a "massive unanticipated influx of revenues" in the year-end report. The State closed last year with a $2.5 billion surplus.
The state officially closed with $5.5 billion in the general fund, but $3.5 billion of that was allocated to FY2023 operations.
As mandated by a new statute, Franchot's office said, $870 million of the $2 billion balance was transferred to the Rainy Day Fund ($500 million) and the Fiscal Responsibility Fund ($370 million), leaving a final balance of $1.1 billion.
Franchot credits an increase in personal income tax receipts among the wealthiest taxpayers and the impact federal stimulus aid for the surplus.
In Wednesday's Board of Public Works meeting, the comptroller urged lawmakers to transfer that $1.1 billion to the Rainy Day Fund "to better prepare for an economic disaster."
"We must heed the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. Many residents and businesses who desperately needed help did not receive a dime of assistance from state government, either because they weren't eligible for the programs or because the money ran out," Franchot said. "We can't let that happen again, and until we know what our economic conditions will be like a year from now, it would be imprudent to spend this money."
Franchot also said the state shouldn't bank on billion-dollar surpluses as the ripple effects from pandemic-related fiscal policies grow less significant.
