ONFIRE-TV.com – Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott released details of his $3.4 billion 2025 operating budget on Monday, saying he has closed a $61.9 million budget gap without raising taxes or cutting services.
The mayor cited some strategic moves and good economic timing for a balanced budget proposal.
“We are putting forth a budget that completely covers the gap without furloughing employees, closing fire stations or rec centers, and without cutting city services or turning our back on the priorities of Baltimore while moving forward,” Scott said. “It takes into consideration both the financial health of the city and the very real needs that we all have ahead of us.”
According to the mayor, the next fiscal year’s budget is smaller than this year’s spending plan by 3.4%. The mayor said he instructed agencies to find 5% savings.
As part of the plan, 89 vacant city positions have been frozen, education funding is not as high as expected, property tax assessments have increased by 6.7%, income tax receipts are up by 4.2%, investment earnings increased by 59.8%, and there is a 21.3% jump in state highway user fees.
The mayor said it’s too early to tell what kind of impact last week’s collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge could have on the city’s budget.
“At this point, it is still too early to tell fully how the bridge collapse will impact our overall financial outlook,” Scott said.
The administration took 55 vacant positions at the Baltimore Police Department off the books. There is no reduction in the force, and civilians will fill in, when necessary, with the help of a state grant.
Additionally, several other city departments have lost positions, they include:
– Departments of Public Works and Recreation and Parks: eight
– Enoch-Pratt Free Library: seven
– Baltimore Housing: five
– Department of Transportation: three
– Baltimore City Office of Equity and Civil Rights: two
– Department of Human resources: one
The mayor and city officials said the balanced budget proposal comes, in part, through savings and higher-than-anticipated property tax revenues, singling out south Baltimore as an area of growth.
“The good news that we are seeing on the residential side is that property, even though we are in this marketplace because of inflation, things have cooled, those properties are holding their value. That is really good news for the city’s overall property tax assessable base,” said Laura Larsen, the city’s budget director under the Bureau of the Budget and Management Research.
The mayor is also relying on future revenue-generating proposals.
After the city made a $650,000 investment in license plate readers, the mayor plans to establish a pilot initiative to enforce residential permit parking using the license plate readers.
Parking penalties that were waived during COVID-19 will return, and the mayor plans to introduce new parking tax legislation to close loopholes used by online brokers and apps. The mayor will seek an overall increase in parking fines and fees through the city’s Board of Estimates.
“What we are really trying to do there is to ensure that we are maximizing existing revenue streams into the general fund,” Larsen said.
The public will have some say in the budget, and the City Council has the authority to make changes. The lawmakers have until June 26 to adopt the plan.
Source: WBAL
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