By: citybiz
July 14, 2025
State Employees Offered $20,000 As Part Of Buyout Aimed At Cutting Payrolls
Thousands of state employees were notified by email Thursday of a buyout program, part of a plan by Gov. Wes Moore (D) to reduce the size of state government and cut $121 million from ongoing personnel expenses.
Details of the “voluntary separation program” were also posted on the website of the state Department of Budget and Management. The plan, first announced in late June, offers eligible, full-time employees in the executive branch $20,000, plus an additional $300 for each year of service. It will also cover six months of paid state health benefits and pay out unused leave and compensatory time.
There is no target for the number of employees the state is hoping will take the buyout, officials said.
“The VSP is one of several actions the governor has implemented to achieve the $121 million reduction, including the hiring freeze already announced,” a spokesperson for the Department of Budget and Management said in an email Friday.
There are nearly 52,000 positions within the state personnel and Maryland Department of Transportation personnel systems. About 4,800 were vacant as of May, the spokesperson said, and 13,500 are in job classifications that are exempt from the buyout offer.
Not all of the remaining workers will be eligible, because some have less than two years of service, and not every employee who applies will be approved.
“It is up to the agency and ultimately the secretary of Budget and Management to approve or deny an employee’s application,” the department spokesperson said.
The deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 4.
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Stephen S. Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore) called the offer a “short-term fix for a long-term problem” created by Moore and the Democrat-controlled legislature.
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