By Annie Linskey and James Drew , annie.linskey@baltsun.com and James.Drew@baltsun.com|October 29, 2009
The Baltimore Board of Estimates on Wednesday blocked a company's payment to the embattled Baltimore City Foundation, and the city comptroller called for a halt to all donations to the private nonprofit group amid questions about how it oversees spending.
Later in the day, Mayor Sheila Dixon called for an outside consultant to recommend new oversight procedures for the city-controlled foundation, her strongest response since a Baltimore Sun investigation revealed questionable transactions by public employees using charity money.
As inquiries continue about whether the group's board of directors employs adequate safeguards to ensure that donations are properly spent, City Comptroller Joan M. Pratt requested that a scheduled $50,000 payment to the foundation set for approval on Wednesday be sent directly to the city's coffers.
"Right now, I think contributions made for the benefit of the city should go directly to the director of finance," Pratt said, adding that foundation board members "don't have the appropriate oversight." She later said she wanted to review five years' worth of independent audits before donations resume. The Board of Estimates did not act on that suggestion.
Dixon acknowledged the need for what she called a "comprehensive" evaluation of foundation board practices. "This is an opportunity to be aggressive in reviewing the current structure and operations" of the foundation, she said in a statement.
The oversight issue emerged as the Board of Estimates, a powerful spending panel controlled by the mayor, was set to approve a legal settlement with a company that violated minority and women-owned business requirements on a multimillion-dollar landfill expansion. As part of the proposed penalty, American Infrastructure, Inc. was to have donated $50,000 to the foundation for YouthWorks, a program backed by Dixon that provides summer jobs.
At Pratt's request, the $50,000 will be sent instead to the city's Finance Department, which will transfer the money directly to the Mayor's Office of Employment Development, which runs YouthWorks.
If the payment had gone to the foundation, American Infrastructure could have claimed a charitable tax deduction.
The Board of Estimates' unanimous vote, which included Dixon, came three days after the newspaper's investigation revealed that the little-known organization is a source of money on demand with little or no oversight. City officials wield broad discretion over how money is spent, and the foundation asks few questions.
