Baltimore City officials said nearly half of the city?s $40 million surplus for 2007 is being spent on police overruns ? most of it on overtime.
Budget Director Ray Wacks said $19.8 million of the city?s projected surplus for 2007 will be spent on police cost overruns such as administrative costs.
“Ninety percent of that [$19.8 million] is going to overtime,” he said.
The projected $40 million surplus was accumulated during the fiscal 2007, which ends June 30.
The police department paid $37 million of overtime, according to city finance records for 2006; the city budgeted $8 million for that year.
Administration officials said they have curtailed overtime spending since December.
“Mayor [Sheila] Dixon gave a directive to the police department, and they have responded by cutting overtime 60 percent since December,” Anthony McCarthy, Dixon?s spokesman, said Tuesday. “The department is reviewing and monitoring its current overtime usage.”
In an editorial published in Tuesday?s Examiner, police spokesman Matt Jablow disputed the numbers provided by the city finance department, saying the department paid only $29 million. He did not provide documentation to support that figure.
City Councilman Kenneth Harris, D-District 4, who requested the status of the city surplus at a budget hearing Monday, said he was concerned.
“We are not a city that can afford to plan this poorly,” he said. “I want a realistic figure for overtime spending so we can get a true sense of how this money is being spent.”
