A Senate committee has approved cutting about 500 mostly vacant state jobs, and the panel moved ahead with a plan to start shifting some teacher pension costs to counties.
The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee made the decisions as it passed the panel's changes to Gov. Martin O'Malley's $13 billion budget on Friday.
The 500 job cuts would come from the executive branch.
The move will save about $11 million in fiscal year 2011.
As for pensions, the state now pays the entire cost. That would change by slowly having counties pick up more of the expense. In exchange, the state would pick up half the cost of Social Security, which is now paid entirely by counties.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
