BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Baltimore officials say the city’s current budget has ballooned into a $64 million deficit, driven largely by the cost of what finance officials described as “an unusual brutal winter” and other spending pressures.
A spokesperson with the mayor’s office said in an email that cleanup costs tied to four snowstorms cost the city several million dollars. Officials said overtime pay in the police and fire departments also contributed, and that those costs helped create the deficit.
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The deficit was discussed during a financial report from city agencies at Baltimore City Hall Tuesday, during a hearing with members of the City Council’s Budget and Appropriations Committee.
Critics, including David Williams of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, said the problem goes beyond weather-related costs.
“This is about overspending,” Williams said.
He also criticized city leaders for attributing the shortfall to winter storms.
It’s outrageous that City Hall is blaming the weather and not blaming themselves for being better stewards of taxpayer money,” Williams said.
“Listen, everyone in City Hall is to blame for this, and now taxpayers are probably going to be asked to make up for this shortfall, and potentially with higher taxes and higher fees,” he added.
The disclosure of the deficit follows recent reports about spending at City Hall, including a February report from the Office of the Inspector General that examined spending by the Mayor’s Office from mid-2022 through November 2025. Among the spending, according to the report, the mayor’s office spent $167,000 on food, flowers and other expenditures without approval, the OIG said. The report also cited $52,000 in tax dollars spent on the city’s suite at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium.
After that report, when pressed by FOX45 News, Mayor Brandon Scott said, “We know that (FOX45 News) want[s] to make this out to be something that is not. Again, it’s not just the city of Baltimore. The state of Maryland has skyboxes and have had them forever. And again, you guys are, you’re harping on this small amount of money, which you heard again, nothing illegal was done here.”
A reporter then asked, “But is it appropriate?”
“If it’s not illegal, then it’s appropriate,” Mayor Scott responded.
Baltimore City Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer, vice chair of the council’s budget committee, said he opposed the current budget.
I mean, I fight it every year. I voted against this current budget that we’re in,” Schleifer said.
When asked what responsibility the council’s budget committee takes, Schleifer said, “Well, the committee previously every year we pass a balanced budget and so we don’t have the control on whether or not the administration or agencies overspend on that budget.”
Schleifer said accountability and transparency are key issues.
“That’s where the issue comes in is the administration and the agencies have to be transparent and they have to be held accountable to the budget that is passed and not come back to us requesting hundreds of millions of dollars of surpluses every single year,” he said.
When asked who is hurt by the deficit, Schleifer said, “Well, the taxpayers pay for it.”
Williams also placed responsibility on city leadership.
“The blame is squarely on the mayor, the Board of Estimates, and the City Council,” he said.
City officials said they will have to tap reserve funds, despite stronger than expected tax revenue, to help offset the deficit.
Follow FOX45 reporter Keith Daniels on X and Facebook. Send tips to Kdaniels@sbgtv.com.
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