Are we the only ones who doubt the money for those “shovel-ready” projects will go down a black hole? Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith recently outlined $140 million worth of projects including road resurfacing, fixing alleys, replacing concrete and building projects at schools that could be ready to go in six months.
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon proposed an even heftier $326 million of projects to beautify streets, renovate schools and disinfect water. Gov. Martin O’Malley also has projects for roads, bridges and tunnels ready to consume the potential billions heading our way from the federal stimulus bill.
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All of these projects on their own may have merit.
But amid all of the talk about how the money could be used, no one has yet outlined how it will be monitored.
Will O’Malley create Stimulus Stat — a system not unlike the one he first created in Baltimore City as mayor, allegedly to monitor absenteeism, map crime and check on how many potholes will be filled?
Or will we rely on our elected and appointed officials to decide how best to use the money and shift it around at their discretion?
We are pulling for the former. A quick perusal of the hundreds of audit reports by the Department of Legislative Services shows how quickly money is lost to waste and fraud when government officials are not held accountable.
Remember the Department of Transportation employees so busy they spent entire days visiting porn sites? Or how Morgan State University conveniently shifted millions around to different construction projects without asking for permission as required? Or the thousands of dollars of gift cards stolen by government employees in Baltimore City and Baltimore County? Or how about the Maryland Transit Administration employees who were stealing hundreds of thousands worth of bus fares?
If those entrusted with taxpayer dollars cannot manage the money we already give them, what can we expect when they are handed billions more?
Before any money is spent from the federal stimulus bill, O’Malley and county executives throughout the state must set up searchable, online databases so that taxpayers can track where their money is going. The state’s spending database at http://www.spending.dbm.maryland.gov can serve as a model for local jurisdictions. The alternative is surely only more waste and fraud.
