Next year's Maryland budget can grow by only 2.5 percent and should include the elimination of 2,700 vacant positions under a nonbinding proposal approved last night by a committee that recommends limits on state spending.

The members of the Spending Affordability Committee, made up of legislative leaders and private citizens, also all but ruled out a proposal by Gov. Parris N. Glendening to use $189 million of the "rainy day" fund to close this year's budget shortfall, which is estimated at $550 million.

"We are going to have to address [this year's] budget ourselves and not look at the proposals that have been presented," said Del. Howard P. Rawlings, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

To help close the projected $1.2 billion gap in next year's budget, the committee recommended an increase that is the smallest since a fiscal crisis in 1993.

That year, the committee also suggested a 2.5 percent increase in state spending.

The proposal is unlikely to produce enough money for mandated increases in spending on such areas as health care and public school aid, meaning state officials are likely to have to make major cuts to other parts of the budget.

The recommendation for next year is based on fiscal projections that Marylanders' personal income will grow by 4.4 percent next year, resulting in additional tax revenue.

The recommendation last night came after state senators on the panel blocked a proposal by Rawlings for an increase of 3.25 percent.

"The sooner we cut and the deeper we cut, the sooner we will get the structural balance we need to solve this," said Sen. Robert R. Neall, an Anne Arundel County Democrat who argued against the higher proposal.

The committee will present its report to the governor, who is not required to follow it. But the General Assembly has consistently refused to exceed the recommendation.

Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said through a spokeswoman that he will try to follow the report.

"The Ehrlich administration is hopeful that the committee's recommendations will live up to its purpose of limiting the growth of state government," said spokeswoman Shareese N. DeLeaver.

The committee also recommends that the number of employees who work under the executive branch's authority be limited to 74,100.

To achieve this, 2,700 vacant positions would have to be cut.