Mayor's Spending Plan Revised After Aid Cut

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon has proposed borrowing $15 million, eliminating 17 vacant positions and scaling back a street-cleaning contract to compensate for a $26.5 million reduction in state aid.

A city budget adopted by the Board of Estimates Wednesday leaves in place service cuts announced earlier by the mayor, such as shortening pool hours and closing child care and recreation centers.

Dixon revised her spending plan after the General Assembly balanced the state budget partly by keeping $160 million in highway money that was intended to be distributed to local governments.

The altered $2.2 billion Baltimore spending plan reflects an infusion of $69 million in federal stimulus money, as well as $61 million in stimulus cash for capital projects.