Maryland lawmakers should consider a Plan B in case the roughly $389 million in federal stimulus funds Gov. Martin O'Malley is counting on to balance the state's budget doesn't materialize, the General Assembly's top budget analyst said Monday.

"Some have questioned whether that money is reliably in the bank," Warren G. Deschenaux said at a hearing. "I would say that is not a certainty. The question then is: What to do about it?"

Deschenaux also warned that the roughly $350 million in borrowing from a little-known state-income tax account that O'Malley used to help close the revenue hole "amounts to an erosion of accounting standards." But he stopped short of ruling the transfers out of bounds, saying they had been used during past downturns to keep services going.

"We've been doing this for a long time," he said. "There is very little that is actually new in terms of the thinking underlying the 'found money' aspect of this budget."

O'Malley unveiled a $13 billion spending plan last week that avoided deep service cuts during a year in which he and all state legislators face fall elections.

Deschenaux pointed out that for the past nine years, the state has "been losing money rather spectacularly."

But there was one glint of good news: The state's fledgling gaming program is "ahead of schedule" - at least in the eyes of fiscal analysts, who expect nearly $73 million more this year than planned.

O'Malley had to chop $2 billion to make up for revenue shortfalls. He did it by freezing local aid, ordering a third year of furloughs for state employees, relying on federal help and transferring funds from reserve accounts and capital projects.

Deschenaux's briefing is highly anticipated every year as an independent take on the governor's budget. The event is held in a hearing room large enough to accommodate dozens of lawmakers from the Senate and House of Delegates budget committees, plus top staffers and other officials.

"I do encourage you to get into the details," Deschenaux said to the lawmakers. "You are going to own it. I would encourage you to understand it as best you can."

Those outside government were paying close attention, too. The audience Monday included former Prince George's County Executive Wayne K. Curry, who is thought to be mulling a primary challenge to O'Malley.

Curry came to the briefing to see "for himself" the budget plan, which he believes relies too heavily on borrowing and shows an "indifference to leadership." He declined to offer his own specific remedies.

Curry, a Democrat, said he was "astonished" by a formula that reduces state aid to his home county, which typically gets millions in payouts from the wealthier areas.

This year, Prince George's County is set to receive $3 million from a grant designed to spread wealth from the richer to poorer areas, compared to last year's $21 million.

"I do expect to get more detail about how such a shocking outcome could occur," Curry said.

State budget analysts explained that the reason for the change is that income taxes receipts in Prince George's rose relative to the rest of the state - creating less economic disparity and less need for the grant.

Previewing a possible budget target for Republicans, Sen. David R. Brinkley of Western Maryland asked a series of questions about local aid to Baltimore.

"How is it that every jurisdiction got hit with a 95 percent cut and Baltimore got hit with 35 percent?" he asked, referring to a chart showing state cuts to local roads money. "The pain wasn't shared."

Also of concern to lawmakers was an apparent error in the state budget assumptions resulting in a failure to include roughly 2,200 students enrolled in the Baltimore City Public School System.

When the mistake is fixed, Baltimore City is likely to get several million more dollars, though Deschenaux said it is too early to estimate the actual boost in funding to the city schools. Deschenaux wanted to check to see if the state made similar errors for other school districts.

After a nearly two-hour hearing and grilling from lawmakers about the state's budgetary woes, Deschenaux chatted with observers and offered a more optimistic view by belting out a few lines from the musical "Annie."

"The sun'll come out tomorrow," he sang. "Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun!"