Gov. Wes Moore’s $360 million supplemental budget restores funding to the Developmental Disabilities Administration for 2025 and partially makes up some of the agency’s deficit for fiscal year 2026, however, hard budgetary challenges still lay ahead as the state grapples with larger budgetary shortfalls in coming years.
The governor’s budget originally cut DDA by about $200 million, threatening some services and raising fierce opposition from disability advocates.
The supplemental budget allocates $143 million for the agency in 2025 and $154 million for 2026. That funding will maintain the current standard of care that DDA provides.
However, DDA will still face an uphill battle next year.
“The $457 million in general and federal funds that were cuts in fiscal year 2026 still remain, and that means we have to continue our advocacy for that funding,” said Rachel London, the executive director of the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council.
The funds shift came at the cost of other state initiatives, particularly raises for non-union state employees.
Those employees will get a 1% cost-of-living-adjustment increase, but not a merit-based or step-increment raise. That decision saved about $37 million
Additionally, the administration is cutting some clean energy initiatives that tallied up to about $80 million.
Other changes of note include delaying Maryland’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program. The supplemental also sets aside $9 million for a surge in unemployment requests for federal workers and $2 million to expedite the hiring of federal workers to state government positions.
Maryland is in a tricky situation as federal funding from COVID spending dries up and a bow wave of spending on education is coming due.
The state faced a $2.7 billion deficit for 2025.
“We need the investments that these expenditures pay for,” said Benjamin Orr, president of the Maryland Center on Economic Policy. “We need the Blueprint for Maryland's Prosperity, our children and our future workforce needs it in order for Maryland to remain competitive nationally and globally. We need services for folks with disabilities. We need infrastructure that allows people to move around the state, but we can't do that if we're unwilling to ask everyone to pay their fair share.”
Maryland will have a tough road ahead as those bills continue to add up for 2026. The deficit is likely to be several billion dollars for next year.
Moore is proposing a 2.5% business to business services tax and other revenue generating measures to make up for that gap. That tax would focus on taxing professional services like public accountants and lobbyists.
