In 2018, then-Baltimore City Councilman Brandon Scott was taking a victory lap. His much-hyped “Equity Assistance Fund” had been approved by the city council and greenlit by voters via a ballot initiative. In Scott’s words, the fund was the ticket to investing “in those neighborhoods where people were redlined intentionally.” It was painted as a game changer for city residents most neglected by government dollars.

But the new fund proved to be nothing short of a false promise. Despite voters giving the fund their blessing, the Equity Assistance Fund has sat completely unused since it was enshrined into the city charter. Meanwhile, Baltimoreans have heard very little about the fund over the past several years, all while lawmakers push to enshrine even more so-called “forever funds” into the city charter.

We call them “forever funds” because once they are laid out in the city charter, it is extremely difficult to dismantle them. They effectively exist in perpetuity once they are created. This presents a problem both for unfunded mandates like the Equity Assistance Fund and funds that are riddled with financial and management controversies, such as the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund.

Take the Baltimore Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund, for example. City lawmakers championed the fund as a way to redistribute state-collected cannabis tax revenue back into local communities after the legalization of recreational marijuana in Maryland. But Baltimore’s former Chief Equity Officer Dana P. Moore strongly opposed creating the fund for many of the reasons we’ve laid out here.

Moore, who previously served as city solicitor, rightfully pointed out that Mayor Scott’s own Equity Assistance Fund remains unfunded and recommended sending the cannabis money there instead of standing up an entirely new fund. This was a wise and responsible suggestion.

“Along with promoting equity and civil rights, we must also promote responsible governance, and therefore, we do not believe this is the most efficient approach,” Moore wrote in a letter to the city council about creating the new reparations fund.

Instead of taking Moore’s advice, city politicians ignored her recommendation and asked voters to approve the fund anyway, which they did this past November. There is something deeply troubling about elected officials disregarding the voice of a Black, female attorney charged with overseeing the city’s equity efforts.

But the latest debacle with the reparations fund is just the tip of the iceberg. The Baltimore Children and Youth Fund (or BCYF as it is now commonly referred) presents an even deeper, and perhaps more chilling problem. The fund was approved by voters in 2016 and is guaranteed a pot of money from Baltimore City Hall every year, which usually ends up in the eight-figure range.

Meanwhile, the youth fund has been plagued by controversy for almost its entire existence. Financial reporting issues led the fund to be stood up as a nonprofit organization outside city government in 2020 despite being entirely supported by taxpayer dollars.

Since then, the public has learned about all-expense-paid trips for adult activists paid for by the fund, a board member’s nonprofit getting large grants from the fund, and even the former financial director of the fund raising concerns about its management. Former Mayor Jack Young, perhaps the loudest champion of the fund a decade ago, now says it has lost its way.

This is where the “forever fund” structure becomes a major problem.

Let’s say Baltimore lawmakers reach the end of their rope with the youth fund and want to dismantle and rebuild it with a different structure. It’s not so easy. Lawmakers would have to all agree on that, for one, and then send the initiative back to voters. It’s a tedious, challenging process.

City lawmakers are elected to represent the people and steward funds. We don’t need “forever funds” enshrined into the city charter to accomplish that. It takes power out of the hands of the people and forces the city into long-term financial commitments with no flexibility. It can also create false promises, as is the case with the equity fund. City voters deserve honesty and transparency. Let’s end this practice now.