As Larry Hogan prepares to take over, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says Baltimore must reconsider 'reliance on state aid'

Enlarge Photo

Jaclyn Borowski

Maryland Governor-Elect Larry Hogan and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake have spoken about the economy, the mayor said Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014.

15 photos

Home of the Day

Sponsor Listing

Rick Seltzer

Staff reporter- Baltimore Business Journal

Email  |  Twitter

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has spoken with Governor-elect Larry Hogan and came away thinking he knows Baltimore City is an economic driver for Maryland.

"We talked about the importance of Baltimore to the economy of the state," Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday. "I got the sense in our conversation that he understands how important the success of Baltimore is to the success of his administration."

The mayor offered little more in the way of details about her conversation with Hogan. They did not talk about the proposed Red Line light rail, she said. They did not talk about taxes.

Rawlings-Blake was asked whether the city is evaluating its exposure to state sources of funding after Hogan won an election in which he emphasized cutting taxes. She said it is.

"I think it's important with the type of administration change that we anticipate to do an assessment of the city's reliance on state aid, state revenue," she said. "We're doing all of those things."

Rawlings-Blake was also asked whether this month's election prompted a new city group to evaluate state taxes and fees. The group has been in the works longer than that, she said.

"It's clear that this wasn't being done overnight," she said. "This is something we've been working on. It is being released now and we are starting to do the public work because we've gotten to that point."