The Baltimore City Council asserted itself on a budget battle for the first time in more than a decade Thursday evening, stripping money from Mayor Sheila Dixon's $2.4 billion spending plan.
The move is designed to press Dixon to restore money for recreation centers, pools and other programs by cutting $1.1 million from the mayor's other priorities. And it sends a clear message: This City Council has the votes to act independently.
"I knew we'd get this," City Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake said after the votes. "I wasn't sure who the eight or nine votes would be. We are representing the concerns of our constituents. We are bombarded with constituents who want us doing more with less."
Dixon said she was "blindsided" by the cuts and that her staff only learned about proposed amendments in an e-mail about 11 a.m. "The council is exercising its legislative role," she said. "Am I disappointed? Yes. This was a difficult budget. We've already made some adjustments. So this is going beyond that."
The mayor gave little indication about what she would do next. In the past, Dixon has said she would put any money the council cuts toward a property tax reduction and would not change her budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Such tax relief would only be a fraction of a penny per $100 in assessed value.
Baltimore's charter gives the City Council little power in shaping city spending: It can cut funds from the mayor's proposed budget, but cannot move money to other programs. The council so often acquiesces to the administration's will that even some members refer to it as a rubber stamp.
This year was different. Just weeks after Dixon outlined proposed cuts to make up an expected $65 million budget gap, the council countered with a resolution condemning parts of her proposal.
Dixon administration officials started Thursday's hearing with a peace offering: They suggested adding $270,000 for child care centers, summer programs and pools. But for some members of the council, that did not go far enough.
Led by Budget Chairman Bernard C. "Jack" Young, the council quickly took up one amendment after another, passing three of the four amendments offered by Rawlings-Blake.
The council reduced funds for the Mayor's Office of International and Immigrant Affairs, Cable and Communications and the inspector general's office. Acting on an amendment offered by Councilman William H. Cole IV, the council cut money to the city solicitor's office, reducing by $181,239 the funds that can be spent on outside lawyers.
