MAKO warns commissioners: Maryland budget gap, energy demand and solar siting will keep pressure on counties

A delegation from the Maryland Association of Counties (MAKO) told Carroll County commissioners June 5 that a large state budget shortfall and national energy demand trends are likely to keep pressure on local governments for the foreseeable future.

Michael Sanderson, MAKO director, said the state faced “a $3,000,000,000-and-change crisis in the state’s budget,” a shortfall that is reshaping legislative outcomes and limiting options for additional state-funded programs. "Fiscal stuff of this consequence just changes the whole debate," Sanderson said, adding that some policy choices now carry steep fiscal notes that constrain passage.

Sanderson said one consequence is that the legislature and governor have moved some costs and functions toward counties rather than reducing service levels at the state level. He cited as examples proposed invoicing of county governments for certain state functions and shifts in highway-user revenues and teacher pension costs. "They've been sending us a bill for 50% of the cost of the assessments function that's run by the state. Now it's going to be 90%," he said, and warned that teacher pension invoicing could present an additional large fiscal exposure for counties.

Energy, solar development and transmission MAKO staff described energy demand increases driven by large data centers, retirement of older generation plants and state renewable targets as a chain of pressures that fall unevenly across the state. Sanderson said Maryland imports a substantial share of its energy and that meeting clean-energy goals will naturally push some large-scale generation into lower-cost rural areas. That trend has raised local opposition.

The delegation noted two separate decision tracks affecting local control: local land-use processes, and a state-level process administered by the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) for issuing certificates of public convenience and necessity (CPCNs). Sanderson said the PSC’s CPCN reviews focus on grid adequacy and do not substitute for detailed local siting or land-use considerations. He warned commissioners that even where counties adopt mapping and preferred-area designations, the PSC and courts are only required to “consider” local processes — language that does not create a veto.

"The idea that these are multi-state regions and you think about them in a larger geography probably makes sense in the aggregate, but this is exactly where the rub is," he said, later noting the role of regional grid operator PJM in siting decisions.

Commissioners raised local concerns including how the statutory PPA (percentage) cap will be computed relative to preserved lands and where transmission corridors will make some parcels more attractive for large solar projects. Sanderson and MAKO staff suggested those finer points will be refined in future legislative or regulatory work.

Blueprint for Maryland's Future and education funding MAKO’s briefing also touched on the state’s education reform (the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future). Sanderson described the blueprint as a large, multi-year funding commitment that carried its own fiscal risks, particularly because state trust funds used to pay the state's share could be exhausted and create subsequent budget pressure on counties and the state. He noted the board of education waiver the county won and said the waiver demonstrated some flexibility in implementation.

What commissioners asked Local officials repeatedly asked MAKO staff how counties could influence multi-state actors like PJM or the PSC and whether MAKO should do more federal advocacy. Commissioners stressed the distributional effects of policy — what looks like a small fiscal shift at the state level can be significant to an individual county. Sanderson suggested broader federal and regional engagement may be needed but said MAKO’s core role is bringing county operating experience into Annapolis negotiations.

Why it matters Sanderson framed MAKO’s approach as pragmatic: the association tries to prevent worst-case fiscal consequences while preserving local autonomy where possible. For Carroll County — a jurisdiction with considerable preserved land acreage — the details of how statewide solar and transmission policy are implemented could have direct, long-term implications for land use, revenue and local infrastructure.

What happens next MAKO will continue its legislative and executive engagement on budget, energy and education issues. Commissioners indicated continued interest in state-level coordination on transmission siting, pension and blueprint funding impacts and possible federal engagement where regional grid and interconnection issues are decided.

Quote "There was almost no way that a package of this magnitude will leave county governments and our services just untouched," Michael Sanderson, director of the Maryland Association of Counties, told the Carroll County commissioners.