BALTIMORE (WBFF) — As Baltimore City budget hearings continue, one agency already under scrutiny is asking for millions more in taxpayer funding.
The Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) is seeking an additional $8.2 million in the city’s fiscal year 2027 budget — a 36.7% increase that would bring the agency’s total funding to more than $30.6 million.
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During a budget hearing Wednesday, MONSE Director Stefanie Mavronis defended the request, arguing the additional funding is necessary to continue violence prevention programs and intervention strategies that city leaders credit, in part, for Baltimore’s recent declines in homicides and non-fatal shootings.
The request, however, comes as the agency remains at the center of an ongoing dispute between the Mayor’s Office and Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Cumming over access to certain financial records.
“The City Council should be freezing their funding, looking for answers, not even thinking about giving them any more money,” David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, said.
Williams pointed to findings released earlier this year by the Office of the Inspector General, which identified thousands of dollars in payments supported by altered or falsified invoices within MONSE programs. The watchdog’s investigation has since been hampered by a broader legal battle over the inspector general’s access to unredacted city records.
In January, the Mayor’s Office began restricting access to certain documents requested by the inspector general, citing state privacy laws. The administration has argued it previously provided information that should have been withheld under those laws, claiming to be unaware of the stipulations at the time. The inspector general, however, believes the mayor’s office is misinterpreting those laws.
The dispute ultimately led the inspector general to file a lawsuit against the city, seeking clarification from the courts regarding her office’s authority to access records necessary for investigations.
Williams argues city leaders should resolve those questions before approving additional funding.
“They have not had to answer really for anything, and they keep on getting more and more taxpayer money, and at some point that has to stop,” Williams said. “People want to trust, but verify. If the mayor is so confident that MONSE is working, then why not open up all the information to the inspector general and to the public?”
FOX45 News reached out to the Mayor’s Office for comment on whether questions surrounding MONSE’s spending and oversight should be resolved before additional funding is approved. As of publication, the administration had not responded.
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