Gov. Wes Moore on Wednesday proposed cutting just under $150 million in state funds scheduled to go to a wide range of programs and services this year in order to cover increasing costs for child care and Medicaid.

The Democratic governor’s plan for “targeted and strategic spending cuts” — as he called them in a guest commentary Wednesday in The Baltimore Sun — is a proactive measure and the first time in recent years the state has made adjustments to the already-enacted budget, according to the Moore administration.

It also comes as Maryland faces looming multibillion-dollar financial shortfalls, putting at risk the future of government services and expensive, decadeslong plans such as the Red Line transit project in Baltimore and the education-focused Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.

Moore has routinely said he has a “very high bar” for raising taxes as a way to solve deficits. His proposal earlier this year for the current 2025 fiscal year budget was focused on pulling from the state’s “rainy day” fund, borrowing more than usual and cutting back some areas that have grown in recent years, like higher education.

The new cuts would trim thousands, and in some cases millions, of dollars dedicated to agencies like the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Health and the Maryland Higher Education Commission.

The roughly $63 billion annual budget went into effect July 1, though the governor has the authority to reduce specific appropriations by up to 25% with the approval of the Board of Public Works, which Moore chairs. The other members are Treasurer Dereck Davis and Comptroller Brooke Lierman, who are also Democrats and are scheduled to vote on the plan at their next meeting, July 17.

The agenda item released Wednesday morning includes a cut of $5 million, or about 7%, to local law enforcement grants that will mean eliminating planned increases for “police accountability” grants that help agencies train police and another set of grants to help reduce the number of open warrants.

About $25 million, or 1%, would be cut from a fund for supporting state-run higher education institutions. That includes $19.1 million planned for the University System of Maryland, $1 million for a Coppin State University student center and $1 million for a new Morgan State University center focused on climate change research.

Other cuts include $250,000 — of 25% — from a “drone based security system at the Port of Baltimore,” $5 million for the demolition of the State Center and delaying hiring for new positions in different agencies.

The cuts total $148.6 million.

The reductions will not affect, or even “cut a penny for,” critical services like transportation and K-12 education, Moore wrote in the op-ed.

Moore’s administration said the cuts are needed for new and ongoing assessments of higher costs around state-sponsored health care and child care programs.

Maryland’s share of Medicaid costs, for the roughly 1.7 million people enrolled in the state, is about $4 billion per year. But exact estimates have been challenging to pin down in the last year because tens of thousands of people lost coverage after the coronavirus pandemic public health emergency ended and then had their eligibility re-determined during a so-called “unwinding.”

Officials expected enrollment estimates to be in flux earlier this spring but underestimated the final costs when crafting the 2025 fiscal year budget.

In the event that more Medicaid funding would be needed, the General Assembly authorized Moore to tap the rainy day fund — up to $90 million in the 2024 fiscal year and $100 million in the 2025 fiscal year. The administration said Wednesday that the $90 million will be needed and, though the state doesn’t need to touch the other $100 million yet, the cuts announced Wednesday are in anticipation of needing more than that $100 million in 2025.

Cost estimates are also still unavailable for the state’s growing child care scholarship program, which helps some families pay for care and early education programs.

Enrollment has skyrocketed, from about 24,000 children in January 2023 to nearly 40,900 children today. Moore and the legislature approved $328.5 million for the program this year, about five times the original amount for 2024, but it likely will need more as enrollment continues to rise, the administration said.

Whether more than $150 million will be needed to cover both Medicaid and child care will be determined later this year.

The state is facing budget shortfalls in a number of areas totaling billions of dollars, including for the Blueprint and a six-year transportation plan. A final compromise with General Assembly legislators on this year’s budget included hundreds of millions of dollars for both those areas, but questions about spending and cuts for future years were left unanswered.

Moore resisted calls from some Democratic lawmakers to begin considering a wide range of taxes and fees — including expanding the 6% sales tax and restructuring corporate and personal income taxes.

While the Board of Public Works typically vets and approves state contracts, Wednesday’s proposal is aimed at using its authority to make some general spending reductions. Most state budget decisions require the approval of the Maryland General Assembly, which doesn’t meet again until 2025.

Legislative leaders responded positively to the governor’s move Wednesday but did not comment about any of the specific cuts.

“I appreciate the administration’s thoughtful approach to addressing difficult fiscal realities while protecting core values,” said Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, in a statement. “The ever-changing fiscal complexities of our economy and our state budget often require difficult decisions.”

House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, a Baltimore County Democrat, said it was “part of an ongoing process where we’ll look at every option to continue to balance our budget and protect our priorities.”

Jones and her House Democratic colleagues led the charge earlier this year to pressure Moore and the Senate to consider raising revenues rather than making cuts. A proposal they offered in March would have legalized and taxed internet gambling, filled what they considered corporate tax loopholes and increased a variety of transportation-related fees to raise up to $1.3 billion annually.

A compromise included some higher vehicle fees and tobacco taxes, though House Democrats said they would continue pushing for more.

House Appropriations Chairman Ben Barnes, a Prince George’s County Democrat and leader in that push, reiterated the need Wednesday for “long-term, multi-faceted solutions” while applauding the governor for his actions.

“Solutions that recognize our first charge is protecting our priorities in education, child care, transportation and health care,” Barnes said in a statement. “We have to be honest with Marylanders about the challenges ahead and also be clear that our first priority has to be protecting  critical programs.”

House Republican leaders said Wednesday they were concerned the announced cuts won’t actually save money and that goals like the Red Line and Blueprint “are not financially realistic.”

“It is encouraging that the Moore Administration is not calling for more taxes or more fees in this instance, but these budget actions are not exactly an act of courage,” House Minority Whip Jesse Pippy, of Frederick County, said in a statement. “It is going to take more than swapping dollars around to address our fiscal challenges.”

Moore will submit his next budget plan in January.

Wednesday’s plan also comes as Moore has received both heightened national attention for his role as a surrogate for — and, for some, a potential successor to — Democratic President Joe Biden and while Republican U.S. Senate nominee Larry Hogan, Moore’s predecessor, hammers Moore for his budget decisions.

Hogan, a former two-term governor, has criticized vehicle registration fee increases that went into effect last week and Moore’s decision to restart the Red Line, a project Hogan killed in 2015. In a statement Wednesday after Moore’s announcement, he called the cuts to law enforcement “reckless and inexcusable.”

Moore, as he’s done repeatedly in his first 18 months in office, referenced the state’s lagging economy under Hogan and blamed him for leaving the growing fiscal problems unsolved in the op-ed published Wednesday.

“The legislature was willing to work with the previous governor and make tough decisions, but too often their open hand was met with a closed door,” Moore wrote. “That untenable relationship was masked because Maryland and every other state in the nation benefited from billions of dollars in federal money to get us through the pandemic. But billions of dollars from the federal government was not a structural surplus — it was a sugar high.”