Six marathon days of budget hearings wrapped up late Wednesday, leaving the Baltimore City Council with three weeks to digest Mayor Brandon Scott’s proposed funding for dozens of city agencies and programs.

Released in April, Scott’s proposed $4.6 billion budget for the 2026 fiscal year consists of a $3.6 billion operating budget for standard city expenses and nearly $1 billion capital budget for infrastructure improvements.

The capital budget includes $125 million in borrowed funds, which economists say is risky given persistent high interest rates and the impact of the Trump administration cuts — both to grants and the federal workforce.

Scott’s proposal seeks to close the city’s $85 million deficit partially by raising various fines and fees to deter activities like speeding and illegal dumping. The mayor’s office says the increases are needed updates to penalties that have not changed in years, but council members are concerned the costs could be passed on to residents.

The council must pass a budget by June 26, as the new fiscal year begins July 1. Here’s a look at the most notable developments from its review of Scott’s proposal:

Lots of overtime talk

Excessive overtime spending driven by staffing shortages has taken a toll on first responders’ morale and forced the council to retroactively approve eight-figure appropriations without much oversight — a practice City Council President Zeke Cohen likened to making a cake that has “already been baked.”

Throughout the hearings, Cohen grilled Baltimore Budget Director Laura Larsen and other agency leaders on what they are doing to ease the overtime burden, which could cost the city up to $150 million in the 2025 calendar year. Scott’s fiscal 2026 budget sets aside just $89.5 million for overtime, a discrepancy the mayor’s office tried to clarify by saying there will “always be unanticipated overtime associated with delivering core city services.”

Larsen told Cohen she is willing to discuss strategies to cut down on overtime in “July or August,” which the council president noted is after the start of fiscal 2026.

Leaders like Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley — whose department racked up $64 million in overtime expenses last year — told the council they’re making an effort to fill vacant positions. The police department has seen a net increase of 47 sworn officers since last October to bring its total number of vacancies below 500, and Worley believes there could be just 350 vacancies by early 2026.

A fight to protect immigrants

Monday provided the most emotional moment from the hearings, as Councilwoman Odette Ramos — the city’s first Hispanic council member — pleaded with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant and Multicultural Affairs (MIMA) for more money to protect the city’s migrant communities.

With tears in her eyes, Ramos told MIMA Director Catalina Rodriguez-Lima that the office needs as much as $2 million to help immigrant families prepare to be separated as the Trump administration ramps up deportations. Scott’s fiscal 2026 budget allocates about $966,000 for MIMA, a modest increase over the $757,000 for fiscal 2025.

“We need that commitment today, today! And the fact that it wasn’t given initially in this budget is shameful,” said Ramos.

“I can commit to you right now that absolutely this is one of the top priorities right now for the mayor’s office to increase this budget,” Calvin Young, the mayor’s chief of staff, responded to Ramos.

Young said an increase to MIMA funding would likely require cutting another service in the budget because of the city’s deficit. The Trump administration’s declaration that Baltimore is a sanctuary city could also further jeopardize funding to the area.

Chief Administrative Officer Faith Leach said the city is still spending the $4 million it received in 2022 for immigration assistance through the American Rescue Plan Act, but these funds will expire at the end of 2025.

Salary study sparring

During the Department of Human Resources’ (DHR) hearing Tuesday, Cohen and Councilman Paris Gray became fed up with the Scott administration for not sharing DHR’s most recent salary study with council members. Salary studies are biennial reports that compare salary data for city employees with other cities, allowing job candidates to set their expectations appropriately during the application process.

Cohen called the refusal “frustrating and somewhat disingenuous” and said he personally asked Young twice for the 2023 salary study but has still not seen it. He said acting on “asymmetric information” between official salary studies and data entered into Workday, the city’s human resources software, makes it difficult to help constituents and staff members apply for city jobs.

Gray went a step further, describing the withholding of the study as a “runaround” and suggesting that those in the mayor’s office “don’t care” about allowing City Council staffers to push for pay raises.

“This is not fair to us and I think you don’t care,” Gray said. “I just want to access this salary study so we can clearly have what the rules of engagement are when we’re talking about fighting, navigating for folks in our office.”

Larsen and Deputy City Administrator Shamiah Kerney responded by saying they would provide the study to the council once the city finishes ongoing negotiations with public sector unions representing each agency.

Cuts threaten health department

Federal cuts are looming large over the Baltimore City Health Department’s (BCHD) budget, Interim Health Commissioner Mary Beth Haller told the council Wednesday.

“This budget year is different than other years, due to the unprecedented steps being taken at the federal level,” Haller said.

About 49% of BCHD’s budget is through federal funds, 72% of which comes from dedicated grants. More than a third of health department positions will be funded by the federal government in fiscal 2026.

Haller said there is currently no contingency plan to manage federal cuts, as the department will work with other city agencies, partners and grant providers to make up for lost revenue. This news comes as Michelle Taylor prepares to become BCHD’s permanent health commissioner in August.

OIG positions cut

Within the city, cuts have not pleased Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming, who criticized the Bureau of Budget and Management Research for cutting two new staff positions initially approved for her department.

“Why would you (cut those positions)? My office is very effective,” Cumming said on May 30. “In the Comptroller’s Office, there are 45 auditors and there have been 10 vacancies. So, give us one of those people.”

The now-cut positions were initially approved by the OIG’s advisory board and have an average annual salary of $75,000, plus benefits.

Cumming said Scott administration officials told her “nobody got” new positions because of fiscal challenges, pointed out that the mayor’s office has added 13 positions this year and 41 positions since 2022. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has remained at 18 positions during that time.

A spokesperson for Cohen told The Sun Friday that the council president supports OIG’s request to avoid staffing cuts.

Permit issues

The May 30 Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) hearing saw council members troubled by recent changes to the city’s permitting process. The bureaucratic nature of obtaining permits for building and redoing homes has long been a frustrating topic for Baltimore developers and businesses.

Cohen bluntly said he does “not have confidence” that DCHD can fix problems stemming from the city’s transition to a new online permitting system, which led to a roughly 50% reduction in the number of permits issued so far this year compared to last year. Difficulties and delays with permits can give developers financial headaches or make them think twice about following rules.

DHCD Commissioner Alice Kennedy, who previously played down permitting difficulties, accepted responsibility for the challenges and said more testing of the new system should have been done.

“This is not how we want to do business,” Kennedy said. “We are not there yet, and I believe you all know we are not there yet.”

Leach said she agreed with the concerns and would present a plan to fix the permitting system to the council sometime in June.

Have a news tip? Contact Carson Swick at cswick@baltsun.com.