NEWS
By Julie Scharper, The Baltimore Sun | January 29, 2012
A former District of Columbia and Richmond, Va., finance official will be named Baltimore's new director of finance on Monday, city officials said. Harry E. Black, a Baltimore native who wrote a guide to economic development for cities, will replace Edward Gallagher, who is retiring after 29 years, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's office announced. "We are excited to welcome Mr. Harry Black to City Hall as we work on the budget for the next fiscal year," Rawlings-Blake said in a statement.
NEWS
By Julie Scharper, The Baltimore Sun | June 11, 2011
Baltimore would need to attract more than half a million new residents in order to make up for the money it would lose by cutting property tax rates in half over the next four years, according to a report from the city's Finance Department. The city's property tax rate, which is more than twice that of the surrounding counties, is emerging as a key issue in the Democratic primary race for mayor. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake backs a gradual decline in the rate, while many of her challengers say a dramatic cut is necessary to stem decades of population loss in the city.
NEWS
By Nicole Fuller, The Baltimore Sun | June 14, 2010
Annapolis Mayor Joshua J. Cohen said Monday night that city police are investigating the theft of more than $150,000 in checks and cash from a vault in the city's Finance Department last week. A bank deposit bag with checks totaling $149,843.21 and $3,982.59 in cash was removed from the Finance Department's vault between 2:30 p.m. June 7 and the next morning, according to a statement from the mayor late Monday. The theft was discovered when a courier arrived to pick up the funds to make a bank deposit.
NEWS
By Julie Bykowicz and Julie Bykowicz,julie.bykowicz@baltsun.com | May 13, 2009
Baltimore City Council members are threatening to cut pet programs from Mayor Sheila Dixon's office as they scour the city's $2.2 billion budget for money to offset her proposed cuts to recreation centers, community pools and Police Athletic League centers. Tuesday evening, they focused on the mayor's Office of Neighborhoods, describing the $580,000 program as "duplicative" with the services already provided by the city. "If I had to make a choice and it was the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods or Parks and Recreation," said Councilman Edward Reisinger, "I can't see the rationale for laying off rec center directors."
NEWS
By Annie Linskey and Annie Linskey,annie.linskey@baltsun.com | April 28, 2009
A property tax credit meant to lure new residents to Baltimore and spur development in impoverished neighborhoods instead rewards current city dwellers who inhabit booming parts of the city, according to a report issued by the city's Finance Department. In the past nine months, 75 percent of the applications for the program, called the Newly Constructed Dwelling Tax Credit, came from 10 neighborhoods, according to the finance data. Forty percent of the credits went to households earning more than $100,000 a year.
NEWS
By Annie Linskey and Annie Linskey,annie.linskey@baltsun.com | March 26, 2009
The powerful panel that oversees Baltimore City Hall spending unanimously agreed Wednesday to give city agencies more leeway in making purchases, a change that officials believe will save the city money but that reduces oversight of some transactions. Under the new policy, city agencies will have the authority to make purchases of up to $5,000 without formal approval from the finance department. The previous limit was $1,000. "It is a lot of paperwork to put a requisition in," Mayor Sheila Dixon said.