Gov. William Donald Schaefer, in a move that may prove to be largely symbolic, plans to introduce his own state budget next month just days before Gov.-elect Parris N. Glendening introduces his own spending plan.
Maryland's attorney general has already concluded that legislators need not pay attention to Mr. Schaefer's budget. The budget of the incoming governor will supersede any other spending proposal.
But from Mr. Schaefer's point of view, that is merely a legal nicety that misses the point.
What his unusual action is likely to do is highlight the sharp differences between the activist style of government he has championed throughout his long political career and the more scaled-back role of government that Republicans demanded during the recent election campaign, and which Mr. Glendening and many state legislators now say they believe Marylanders want.
"In some traditions, people used to leave an ethical will, a testament to their heirs of how life should be lived," said Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman, a Baltimore Democrat who is about to become chairman of the Senate's budget committee.
"This is like Schaefer's ethical will -- how he thinks government ought to be," she said.
Mr. Schaefer's version of the budget, to be introduced after the TC General Assembly convenes Jan. 11 but before Mr. Glendening is sworn in Jan. 18, is expected to appropriate almost every penny of revenue the state expects to receive next fiscal year.
That would amount to nearly an 8 percent increase in spending over this year's budget.
"After nearly eight years in office, the governor has some pretty strong feelings about where the state's priorities ought to be and what directions we should pursue. And in his final budget he is pursuing those goals," said Joseph L. Harrison, Mr. Schaefer's press secretary.
Mr. Glendening said Mr. Schaefer notified him two or three weeks ago of his intention to submit his own budget.
"I'm not taking any exception to that. It is reflective of his style of being a strong governor right up to the end," Mr. Glendening said.
But he also said he made clear to Mr. Schaefer that his own budget priorities will be different, and that once he is in office he intends to submit a plan that will halve Mr. Schaefer's proposed increase in spending, down to 4 percent or less.
"Times and expectations have changed considerably," the Democrat from Prince George's County said.
"The public message from the election . . . is that people want us to focus on jobs, education and safe communities, but they also want clearly no new taxes, some reduced taxes and budget stability."
Since almost losing the Nov. 8 election to Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey, whose campaign was a relentless call to slash government spending and lower taxes, Mr. Glendening himself has become a steady advocate of lower taxes.
He said he already is talking with legislative leaders about finding a way to set aside money to finance a tax cut by the final year of their term, just before he and the General Assembly stand for re-election.
Just balancing the state budget, much less cutting taxes, may prove difficult.
If Mr. Schaefer proposes that all the revenue available be spent, the increase would be $730 million over this year's $13 billion budget. If Mr. Glendening cuts that back to 4 percent, he will have to pare roughly $350 million in programs from Mr. Schaefer's plan.
Mr. Glendening also will have to find enough money to finance a $100 million increase in school aid required by law.
And budget officials project that he will have to identify another $100 million for higher Medicaid costs and $50 million for higher prison and juvenile detention costs.
"We're working on all that," Mr. Glendening said. "We understand it is not going to be easy. There will be a series of very hard decisions, both in this budget and the next couple budgets."
Mr. Schaefer's unusual budget submission could complicate Mr. Glendening's problems. William S. Ratchford II, veteran chief of the legislature's budget office, said he could not recall an outgoing governor ever doing such a thing.
"I don't want to tell you it has never happened, but certainly in modern time I've never heard of it happening," he said.
Even though Mr. Schaefer's final budget next month can be legally ignored, once he proposes spending for certain programs, it likely will be harder for Mr. Glendening to take those programs off the table. For the advocates for those programs, it will be as if he is taking money away from them.
On the other hand, Mr. Glendening could use the competing budget as an opportunity to prove he is willing to make hard decisions to cut government spending -- a message he has seemed eager to convey to Marylanders since the election.