Baltimore committee approves FY24 closeout supplementals after debate on overtime, contracting and staffing

The Baltimore City Council Budget and Appropriation Committee on Thursday voted to advance a package of 11 fiscal 2024 closeout bills to the full councilfor second reader, approving supplemental appropriations and interfund transfers to cover agency deficits.

Councilwoman Danielle McCray, chair of the Budget and Appropriation Committee, opened the hearing and read the package, which includes funding for the Board of Elections, the fire department, police and other city agencies. The committee adopted amendments required by the Law Department and approved each bill on voice votes and recorded roll calls.

Why it matters: The bills are final-closeout moves that address agencies that ended fiscal 2024 with deficits. The finance department said the package uses surplus revenue (income tax receipts and surplus investment earnings), transfers of appropriation and a fund-balance draw for unresolved COVID-19 costs now in FEMA reimbursement review. Committee discussion centered on what drove the deficits and what the city will do to prevent repeat shortfalls.

Laura Larson, the city budget director, told the committee the package represents "our final, closeout actions from the fiscal 24 budget," and said the bills either appropriate surplus revenue or transfer appropriations from agencies with surpluses to those with deficits. She described two categories of technical corrections in seven bills: correcting fund-source language and correcting charter citations. "That was just a mistake that was missed," Larson said, and added, "I very much apologize to the committee, and and just want to assure you that we're working internally, to ensure that these sort of mistakes are avoided in the future."

Law Department staff said some bills were already approved for form and legal sufficiency and that the remainder required the department's amendments before final legal approval. The Law Department identified council bills 25-0025, 25-0028, 25-0033 and 25-0034 as currently approved for form and legal sufficiency; the others require the adopted amendments to reach that status.

Council President Z. Cohen highlighted year-to-year swings in closeout supplemental totals and gave three fiscal-year examples: "This year, total appears to be $67,859,335. In '23, it was $3,737,360 dollars. And then in FY '22, it was ... $94,500,000," and asked the administration what controls are being put in place to reduce recurring supplementals.

Larson and other administration officials answered that the year-to-year variation had multiple causes: an atypical revenue surge tied to real-estate transfer and recordation revenue in fiscal 2022; implementation and procurement timing issues tied to the city's Workday rollout in fiscal 2023 that suppressed spending; and, in fiscal 2024, procurement "logjams" clearing so bills paid twice in the year. She said recurring drivers in fiscal 2024 and 2025 included overtime and the use of contractual services where vacancies or recruitment gaps exist.

Panel and committee members pressed on public-safety overtime and staffing. Larson said the police department's overtime deficit grew because vacancy savings no longer offset overtime used to backfill shifts; she recommended continued investment in civilian positions to return sworn officers to patrol. On the fire department, Larson said the city faces "a chronic issue," citing recruitment pauses during the COVID pandemic that created multi-cycle gaps in academy throughput, plus more than 70 vacant paramedic positions. She said the city is using overtime and some unbudgeted contractual EMS support while it works on recruitment, shift-model changes and possible civilianization options.

Council members also raised the sheriff's department city-detail overtime and flagged audit and internal-investigation activity; Larson said a mayor-directed top-to-bottom overtime review is underway to identify discretionary versus nondiscretionary overtime and to recommend controls.

Commissioners and council members discussed workforce solutions including a salary-study implementation and expansion of apprenticeship programs run by the Mayor's Office of Employment Development. Larson said the salary study's implementation and targeted recruitment strategies are expected to reduce reliance on contractors and overtime over time.

Votes at a glance: The committee voted to approve amendments and advance the following bills to the council's second reader. (Votes shown are the committee's roll-call where recorded.)

- Council Bill 25-0024: "Supplementary special revenue fund operating appropriation, Board of Elections" — $1,417,451. Motion by Councilman Paris Gray; second by Vice President Sharon Green Middleton. Roll-call: Danielle McCray yes; Sharon Green Middleton yes; Paris Gray yes; Schleifer absent; Antonio Glover absent. Outcome: approved and advanced.

- Council Bill 25-0025: "General fund operating appropriation transfer, debt service to Department of Finance" — $4,228,173. Motion by Middleton; second by Gray. Roll-call: McCray yes; Middleton yes; Gray yes; Schleifer absent; Glover absent. Outcome: approved and advanced.

- Council Bill 25-0026: "Supplementary special revenue fund operating appropriation, Fire Department" — $33,361,780 (with amendments). Motion by Gray; second by Middleton. Roll-call: McCray yes; Middleton yes; Gray yes; Schleifer absent; Glover absent. Outcome: approved and advanced.

- Council Bill 25-0027: "General fund operating appropriation transfer, general fund balance set to Health Department" — $5,251,429 (amendment adopted). Motion by Gray; second by Middleton. Roll-call: McCray yes; Middleton yes; Gray yes; Schleifer absent; Glover absent. Outcome: approved and advanced.

- Council Bill 25-0028: "General fund operating appropriation transfer, Department of General Services to Department of Law" — $1,514,351. Motion by Middleton; second by Gray. Roll-call: McCray yes; Middleton yes; Gray yes; Schleifer absent; Glover absent. Outcome: approved and advanced.

- Council Bill 25-0029: "Supplementary special revenue fund operating appropriation, Liquor License Fund" — $250,323 (amendment adopted). Motion by Gray; second by Middleton. Roll-call: McCray yes; Middleton yes; Gray yes; Schleifer absent; Glover absent. Outcome: approved and advanced.

- Council Bill 25-0030: "Supplementary special revenue fund operating appropriation, Police Department" — (amount discussed in hearing; committee advanced the bill with amendment). Motion by Gray; second by Middleton. Roll-call: McCray yes; Middleton yes; Gray yes; Schleifer absent; Glover absent. Outcome: approved and advanced.

- Council Bill 25-0031: "Supplementary special revenue fund operating appropriation, Department of Public Works" — $5,982,755. Motion by Gray; second by Middleton. Roll-call: McCray yes; Middleton yes; Gray yes; Schleifer absent; Glover absent. Outcome: approved and advanced.

- Council Bill 25-0032: "Supplementary special revenue fund operating appropriation, Recreation and Parks" — $6,973,547. Motion by Middleton; second by Gray. Roll-call: McCray yes; Middleton yes; Gray yes; Schleifer absent; Glover absent. Outcome: approved and advanced.

- Council Bill 25-0033: "General fund operating appropriation transfer, MR Debt Service to the Office of the Sheriff" — $4,564,341. Motion by Middleton; second by Gray. Roll-call: McCray yes; Middleton yes; Gray yes; Schleifer absent; Glover absent. Outcome: approved and advanced.

- Council Bill 25-0034: "General fund operating appropriation transfer, MR Debt Service to the Department of Transportation" — $1,039,801. Motion by Paris Gray; second by Sharon Green Middleton. Roll-call: Danielle McCray yes; Sharon Green Middleton yes; Paris Gray yes; Schleifer absent; Antonio Glover yes. Outcome: approved and advanced.

What the administration said it will do next: Finance said it monitors revenues and expenditures monthly and does enterprise-level quarterly forecasting; it will continue targeted recruitment work, expand civilian positions where appropriate, and pursue salary-study implementation to reduce the need for contractors and overtime. A top-to-bottom review of overtime spending ordered by the mayor is underway and staff said they will report back with allocation details (for example, the committee asked the administration to provide a breakdown of the Board of Elections security-equipment and mailing costs included in the supplemental appropriation).

The hearing concluded with the chairs sending the amended bills to the council for second reader. The committee did not receive public testimony at the hearing.