Council presses health department for finalized data, oversight of treatment quality and school‑health staffing
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Summary
Councilmembers asked Commissioner Michelle Taylor for finalized 2025 overdose counts, clearer short-term reduction benchmarks, whether EMS can deliver buprenorphine, and a breakdown of school-health vacancies after Taylor said the department’s vacancy rate is 33.8%.
Councilmembers used a City Council public safety committee hearing to press the Baltimore City Health Department for specific data and operational details after Commissioner Michelle Taylor’s presentation.
When the committee chair asked for final 2025 overdose totals, Taylor said the 2025 numbers were not finalized but added that “so far this year, we have had 500 fatal drug and alcohol overdoses, that have been reported for the city by the state.” She noted the data lag and said preliminary totals were 1,043 fatal overdoses in 2023 and 777 in 2024, a 26 percent decrease.
Members asked for clarity about the strategic plan’s 40 percent reduction goal for 2040 and requested nearer-term benchmarks. Taylor said epidemiologists and other experts informed the target and that the plan can be amended as new data arrive.
The council raised operational questions: whether paramedics could distribute buprenorphine in the field, how the city would ensure quality of residential treatment centers, and how to improve follow-up when people are rescued with naloxone. Taylor said paramedic-led buprenorphine distribution has been discussed and would require coordination, training and alignment with partner agencies; she said the department is mapping treatment capacity and discussing oversight with the Maryland Community Behavioral Health Association and the Maryland Department of Health.
On staffing, Taylor said the department’s current vacancy rate is 33.8 percent, with most vacancies in school health, and that the department employs about 700 people. The committee asked for an exact vacancy breakdown, standard salary benchmarks for school nurses compared with current salaries, and whether city action or state approval is required to change staffing rules. Taylor agreed to provide those items to the committee.
Councilmembers also urged stronger peer-worker involvement in outreach and schools, and asked for sharper, shorter-range benchmarks for reductions in overdose deaths in the coming one to three years.