Baltimore planning director outlines capital-budget reforms, boosts FY26 investments to tackle deferred maintenance

Planning Director Chris Ryer told the Baltimore City Council committee that his presentation of the capital budget was his “sixth and last” and stressed the need to address long‑term deferred maintenance across city assets.

Ryer said the city is beginning to close a large funding shortfall after the state restored highway-user revenue (HUR) for three fiscal years, a state commitment of $50 million a year for scattered-site vacancy and community development priorities, and a voter-approved increase in general‑obligation (G.O.) borrowing. “This is my sixth and last presentation to you of the capital budget,” Ryer said. “When I took this position, I had no idea how under resourced the city's capital budget had become.”

The city’s planning staff and sister agencies described a package of budget and reporting reforms intended to speed delivery and make project spending more transparent. Sarah Parnellum, division chief for policy and data analysis in the Planning Department, said the department changed how it starts the six‑year Capital Improvement Program (CIP), now beginning from the prior year’s CIP and budgeting by project phase so a given phase can be fully funded in a single fiscal year rather than piecemeal.

Why it matters: Planning staff said deferred maintenance totals are large — Ryer estimated “at least $2,000,000,000” — and that improving how projects are budgeted, sequenced and…