ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Officials on a Maryland fiscal panel are calling for caution in state budgeting as state lawmakers head into next session with more than $1 billion in unspent revenues.
Comptroller Peter Franchot, a member of the Board of Revenue Estimates, said at Wednesday's board meeting there's no guarantee the nation's long-running economic expansion will continue much longer.
He noted a motto from the "Game of Thrones" television series and said: "winter is coming." He's recommending lawmakers bank the money in the state's Rainy Day Fund to prepare for a potential downturn.
David Brinkley, Gov. Larry Hogan's budget secretary and a board member, noted that the cost of a state commission's recommendations to increase education spending remains unknown. He says it's also unclear which of those recommendations will be enacted by lawmakers.