Budget woes have prompted restrictions on overtime for elite city police units in Baltimore, and detectives say that could hamper their ability to fight crime.
Homicide detectives and members of the city?s Warrant Apprehension Task Force must now get approval before incurring overtime expenses, according to internal documents obtained by The Examiner.
The policy shift marks another round of belt-tightening for a city struggling to stay on budget in the face of a declining real estate market.
Sterling Clifford, spokesman for Mayor Sheila Dixon, said police spent $12.9 million in overtime for the first half of fiscal 2008, roughly $5 million over the $8 million budgeted. Clifford said he expected the department would spend $25 million on police overtime in fiscal 2008.
“We will spend plenty of money on overtime this year,” he said.
Overtime incurred while locating witnesses and appearing in court also will now require approval from prosecutors.
Police overtime has been a contentious issue in Baltimore, with spending consistently outpacing projections in the past two fiscal years. Last year, police overtime soaked up nearly half of the city?s $40 million surplus. In fiscal 2006, the city spent $38 million on overtime despite budgeting only $8 million.
The sagging real estate market is costing Baltimore millions in lost tax revenues, according to preliminary estimates.
Halfway through the current fiscal year, budget analysts predict a $20 million to $30 million shortfall in receipts from recordation and transfer taxes ? revenues that played a key role in past city surpluses when the real estate market was booming.
Recordation and transfer taxes from real estate sales were projected to net the city $97 million in the current fiscal year.
The estimated shortfall could erase the roughly $20 million surplus projected for this fiscal year.
