Maryland would need to add more than 25 percent to its overall payroll cost if it is to catch up to its commitment to provide its retirees with health care, according to a recent report on nationwide public retiree health care costs.

The report, from the Center on State and Local Government Excellence, says Maryland’s liability of about $14.5 billion for retiree health care would require a $1.1 billion annual payment if the state were to fund the program in full.

The no-growth budget for next year that legislative leaders recommended Thursday, combined with a promise of no new taxes, might soon look like a relic of the good old days if a new report from the Department of Legislative Services proves accurate.

In a section of a new study of the issues facing the legislative session that begins in three weeks, budget analyst David Juppe forecasts “structural deficits” of at least $2 billion in each of the next five years.

There was little agreement between business and labor groups about unemployment insurance on Thursday as Gov. Martin O’Malley’s staff laid out his legislative plan for revamping it in 2010.

At a meeting of the Joint Committee on Unemployment Insurance Oversight, business at the table roundly rejected O’Malley’s proposed reforms, calling them too costly in the long run and complaining that the plans don’t do enough to help small businesses who are struggling with rising unemployment taxes.

The governor Maryland voters elect next year should get a $5,000 pay raise in 2013 and 2014, bringing the salary up to $160,000, the Governor’s Salary Commission unanimously recommended Tuesday night.

The seven-member commission also recommended similar 3.3 percent and 3.2 percent pay increases for the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the comptroller and the state treasurer, bringing their salaries to $133,333 in the final year of the next four-year term.

It appears that 2010 will not be the year for big changes to the way the state’s new slots facilities will operate, as the House of Delegates is poised to wait for a state commission overseeing the program to make recommendations to the General Assembly.

House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, said this week that he thinks there is a good chance that  the commission can resolve most of the state’s approved slots sites by the end of the legislative session, so he intends to wait.