The Baltimore Police Department is looking to cut $6 million from its planned annual operating budget, sources said, as the city faces lower-than-projected tax revenues — the result of continued weakness in the local real estate market.
Among the programs being considered for cuts are the department’s community relations division and the marine unit, sources said.
Further reductions in overtime, which the department slashed by $5 million last year, also are being sought.
The department’s community relations division employs 14 officers who oversee the highly touted “Get Out of the Game” program, aimed at helping troubled city youths find jobs. The unit also is involved in witness relocation efforts. All officers from the division would be transferred to the department’s central district if the planned cuts are made, sources said.
Police officials declined to comment publicly on the cuts, saying the decision on which the department would bear the biggest brunt has not been finalized.
Last month, city finance chief Edward Gallagher said collections for recordation and transfer taxes — money paid when a piece of property changes hands — were well below projections. In July the city collected 50 percent less recordation taxes than in than in July of the previous year, and 40 percent less in August compared to that same month in 2007. The lower-than-expected revenues left the city budget several million dollars under revenue projections just two months into the new fiscal year, which started July 1.
Gallagher said he would be making a series of recommendations to Mayor Sheila Dixon for cuts to the city budget, but declined to provide specifics.
Since then, the mayor has extended the city’s hiring freeze instituted last November and sought cuts from all city agencies. The Baltimore Sun reported last week that the city fire department also is exploring cutting $4 million from its budget by slashing overtime and transferring firefighters assigned to administrative duties to field work.
