In January 2023, Ivan J. Bates announced his arrival as the city’s top prosecutor by reminding those who continued to wreak havoc on our city by way of gun violence that they better “bring their toothbrush” — because he was sending them to prison for a lengthy period of time. The one-time prosecutor turned high-powered defense attorney was elected by the citizens of Baltimore City in November 2022 to turn around an office that had been seen for years as disorganized and ineffective.

Facing a crime problem that for a decade put Charm City on the top five list of deadliest cities in America with more than 300 homicides annually, the newly elected top prosecutor had to quickly figure out a way to turn the tide. And in a matter of a few years, the city has witnessed two straight years of declining homicides, with this year’s numbers on pace to be the least deadly year in Baltimore in decades.

Bates, once the most sought-after defense attorney in the area with his own high-grossing private law firm, traded all that in for a chance to make a difference in the city he loved dearly. However, what I am sure Mr. Bates never expected when deciding to give up his law firm, taking home less than half of his annual income as a dedicated public servant, was that his position would be one of the most overlooked and underpaid positions in city government.

Over the past two decades, the salary for Baltimore’s top prosecutor has been stagnant, and the elected pension for years of service non-existent.

The city state’s attorney was created by the state in 1851 with an annual salary of $7,500, and the annual salary for the position has long been controlled by Baltimore City’s Board of Estimates, which is controlled by the mayor who retains control of three of the five members on the board. In fact, the last time the city’s top prosecutor received a significant pay raise was under the administration of former Mayor Martin O’Malley, days before he was set to be sworn in as the state’s next governor.

Prior to assuming that role, Mayor O’Malley took many by surprise, including myself and then-Comptroller Joan Pratt, by increasing the salary of four-term State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy by roughly $83,000. The state’s attorney position at that time was set at $142,055 — and by law was supposed to be adjusted every four years following the state elections. Recommended to be raised 6.5% by the city’s finance department, an additional $9,223, the outgoing mayor felt that wasn’t enough for a position as stressful and important as the city’s top prosecutor. So O’Malley decided instead to boost her pay by nearly 60% — making Jessamy the city’s highest-paid employee with a $225,000 salary.

However, since that raise in 2006, the city’s top prosecutor hasn’t seen a salary increase anywhere close to where it should be today. In fact, the annual salary over the past nearly two decades has only grown by $13,000 to $238,000 while other local elected officials and city bureaucrats have witnessed their salaries raised tens of thousands of dollars within a matter of a few years.

In 2007, I sponsored legislation that would take raising the pay for city officials out of the hands of the very individuals who benefited from that raise, giving the decision over to a compensation committee. Later that year, voters approved a charter amendment that mandated that if at least one city union or employee group receives a pay increase during the current fiscal year, the elected officials are entitled to a raise equal to 2.5% of their respective salaries. Based on that law, this year the mayor, City Council president, comptroller and all 14 members of the City Council received pay increases.

The only person who never benefited from these salary hikes was the state’s attorney, who already was supposed to have a salary process in place. But that’s not even the worst of it. Apparently the city’s top prosecutor is also the only elected official in Baltimore City who doesn’t have a pension.

And yet the city’s top prosecutor, who most would agree has largely been responsible for the drastic reduction in crime we’ve witnessed over the past two years, now makes less than almost every agency head in the city. Once the highest paid position in city government, the state’s attorney has largely been overlooked over the past two decades and needs a salary readjustment for the many years the positions was overlooked and ignored while other city officials benefited from the 2007 law.

I would bet a dollar to a donut that there isn’t a person in this city who would consider this fair compensation for the one person who has consistently done his job well over the past two years. We have seen Mr. Bates completely revamp and revitalize the State’s Attorney’s Office, taking it from one of the worst-run offices in the state to one that is almost fully staffed and prosecuting violent and quality of life crimes alike on a regular basis. Since taking the reins, crime has reduced dramatically, prosecutions have increased and yet his salary remains largely the same as that of the state prosecutor Bates once worked for two decades ago.

Sheila Dixon was mayor of Baltimore from January 2007 to February 2010.