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Baltimore committee approves four supplemental grant appropriations totaling $1.97 million
Summary
Baltimore City Council’s Budget and Appropriation Committee voted unanimously to approve four supplemental appropriations for unanticipated state and federal grants totaling $1,968,713; the bills advance to second reader.
Baltimore City Council’s Budget and Appropriation Committee voted unanimously Thursday to approve four supplemental appropriations for recently awarded grants totaling $1,968,713, sending each bill to second reader at the next council meeting.
The committee, chaired by Councilwoman Danielle McCray, approved council bill 25-0045, a $90,000 supplemental for the Department of Recreation and Parks (service: Urban Forestry); council bill 25-0046, a $90,236 supplemental for the Health Department (service: Advocacy for Seniors); council bill 25-0047, a $412,822 federal supplemental for the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (service: Workforce Services for Baltimore residents); and council bill 25-0048, a $1,375,655 federal supplemental also for the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (service: Workforce Services for Baltimore residents).
The grants were described by Laura Larson, the city’s budget director, as awards the city received after the Fiscal Year 2025 budget was finalized. “Prior to Fiscal 25, we would allow agencies to include unallocated appropriations within their budgets to reflect any grants that they think they might get,” Larson said. She explained the administration changed that practice during FY25 to avoid inflating the ordinance of estimates and now brings actual grant awards back to the Board of Estimates and City Council as supplementals.
Desiree Lecke of the Law Department offered a technical amendment to clarify the authority for each supplemental, recommending language to identify the items specifically as unanticipated grants. “We had just offered amendments for each of these, just asking that we use the term a grant to rec to reflect that these are unanticipated grants,” Lecke said; the committee accepted the amendments and voted on the bills as amended.
No members of the public signed up to testify on the items. Committee members voting in favor were Councilwoman Danielle McCray (Second District, chair), Yitzi Slifer (Fifth District), Vice President Sharon Middleton, Councilman Paris Gray (Eighth District) and Councilman Antonio Glover.
Board of Estimates approval was noted by Larson; she also said multi-year grants that include awards in future fiscal years have been incorporated into the Fiscal 2026 budget and the ordinance of estimates scheduled for introduction to City Council the following Monday. Each bill will proceed to the second reader at the next Council meeting.
