We Passed the FY26 Budget! Here's My Statement.

This evening, the City Council passed our Fiscal Year 2026 budget after hours of hearings and deliberations. Thank you to Mayor Scott, Council President Cohen, Chair McCray, and their respective teams for the incredible work to get here. Here are some highlights I’m especially proud of:

·       $2 million for services and legal support for immigrant residents in need. This investment funds the work that the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs does for our immigrant neighbors and will continue the work of providing the legal support and resources they need.

·       $270,000 for the expansion of Judicial In Rem in the courts. This is the match to the General Assembly’s support of the In Rem docket in the Circuit Court for $300,000. In Rem is the process where the city can foreclose on vacant and abandoned properties or vacant lots if the liens exceed the assessed value of the property. This is a crucial aspect of our strategy to eliminate vacant and abandoned properties.

·       An additional $1 million for expanding the capacity at the Department of Housing and Community Development to further the vacant reduction strategy. This will allow the department to hire more staff to file more In Rem cases and to dispose of properties into the hands of rehabbers and nonprofit community development organizations dedicated to renovating our communities.

·       An additional $150,000 for the Department of Legislative Reference to hire an additional bill drafter and make an existing drafter into a supervisory position. This will allow our offices to introduce more legislation and support the department.

·       An additional $10,000 for each of Baltimore’s Main Streets, making the total allocation $75,000 per Main Street organization.

·       An additional $112,000 for the Office of the Inspector General to fund an additional position to continue their work and get through the current 33 cases under investigation and the backlog of 27 additional cases.

·       Increases in pay for our front-line workers, including our sanitation workers, who are so important to our city and have not received increases in years.

I look forward to continuing the conversations on improving the building permit office, the older adult home repair programs, and more. Thank you to the residents who sent in their thoughts on the budget. Let’s continue the hard work!