Mayor Scott Shares His Proposed 2026 Budget for the City of Baltimore

BALTIMORE, MD (Wednesday, April 2, 2025) - Today, Mayor Brandon M. Scott released his proposed city budget for Fiscal Year 2026. This budget recommendation marks a pivotal moment for the City of Baltimore.

"This year's budget outlook is filled with both opportunities and challenges, exacerbated by uncertainty at the federal level and a significant state deficit being addressed in Annapolis," said Mayor Scott. "Even in the face of challenging economic circumstances, my Administration is committed to investing in our young people and older adults, improving our core service delivery, and continuing the historic progress we have made on public safety. The FY2026 budget is a reflection of our city's values. This is not just our financial plan for the next year; it is a roadmap for our future- designed to invest in the safety, health, and prosperity of every resident."

The proposed budget maintains the prioritization of youth development, public safety, neighborhood revitalization, and responsible stewardship of our resources. This budget strategically invests in the city's growth and ensures that Baltimore remains a place where opportunity is accessible to all, collective wellbeing is at the heart of every decision, and every neighborhood has the tools it needs to thrive.

Fiscal 2026 Spending Plan

The spending plan Mayor Scott proposes optimizes citywide costs, enhances revenue in targeted ways, and continues to focus on core city services. These decisions look to avoid mistakes of the past, which balanced the budget on the backs of core services and investments in our communities. This year, we've made strategic adjustments, in partnerships with the agencies affected, to ensure there are no major disruptions or impacts to city services. The preliminary budget balances an $85 million shortfall with:

• $26.6 million to generate new revenue. This package of proposals focuses on updating outdated fee structures and deterring nuisance behavior impacting quality of life in the city. This package does not include any increases to the City's property or income tax.
• $43.7 million to generate citywide savings through optimizing costs and aligning the budget with actual spending trends.
• $14.7 million in savings to individual agency budgets. These reductions avoid any major disruptions or impacts to City services.

The FY2026 budget includes key investments within the five pillars summarized below.

Prioritizing Our Youth

The preliminary budget invests $624.8 million across all funds in services focused on prioritizing our youth. Key highlights and investments include:

• YouthWorks: The Children & Youth Fund is investing $6.9 million to increase the number of slots for YouthWorks. In summer 2025, there will be slots for 8,500 participants making $15/hour.
• Recreation Centers: Operating costs for two new recreation centers that will come online in Fiscal 2026: Chick Webb and Parkview. $600,000 in recurring funding to continue enhancing programming across the City's Recreation Centers.
• B'more for Healthy Babies: $850,000 for the B'more for Healthy Babies program to continue providing services to over 10,000 families annually. This City investment will help to leverage matching Medicaid funds to support the program.

Building Public Safety

The preliminary budget invests $1.2 billion across all funds in services focused on building public safety. Key highlights and investments include:

• Group Violence Reduction Strategy: Fully funding the staffing model for the Group Violence Reduction Strategy allowing the program to expand citywide.
• Police Department Civilianization: Continuing to transition administrative tasks from sworn police officers to civilian roles. The FY2026 budget civilianizes administrative functions for Police Districts, Asset Forfeiture, and Employee Wellness. Net savings from these actions is $1.1 million annually by reducing departmental overtime.
• Parking & Traffic Safety: Enhancing parking and traffic safety efforts within the Department of Transportation. Maintains funding for 24-hour parking enforcement and staffing levels for these services.

Clean & Healthy Neighborhoods

The preliminary budget invests $1.1 billion across all funds in services focused on ensuring clean and healthy neighborhoods. Key highlights and investments include:

• Solid Waste Stabilization: $5.0 million to continue enhancing recycling and trash collection within the Department of Public Works. Funding for an additional 15 trash and recycling crews, making way for shorter routes and less reliance on overtime. Additional funding to create a dedicated team focused on improvements to Solid Waste facilities.
• Deploying Opioid Restitution Funds: $36.7 million from the Opioid Restitution Fund to combat the impacts of the opioid epidemic in our City. Funds will be used to expand opioid response efforts within the Health Department, provide funding opportunities to community-based organizations, and enhance EMS and homeless shelter operations.

Equitable Neighborhood Development

The preliminary budget invests $346.4 million across all funds in services focused on equitable neighborhood development. Key highlights and investments include:

• Bmore FAST Initiative: Earlier this year, the Mayor announced the Bmore Fast program to improve the City's permitting process. The FY2026 Budget fully funds the newly launched permitting system and allocates funding to expand the permit review staff within the Fire Department. This budget also transfers the Office of Zoning Administrator from the Department of Housing and Community Development to the Planning Department. This change ensures the team enforcing the zoning code is aligned with the team establishing the City's zoning code.
• Vacants Initiative: The Mayor continues to work toward executing the $3.0 billion initiative to eliminate vacants in the City of Baltimore. This budget adds an additional $1.5 million to further expand staffing focused on this critical work.
• Establishing the Mayor's Office of Art, Culture, & Entertainment: Maintaining a robust and vibrant arts and culture scene is part of the heartbeat of the City. $2.0 million to establish a new team within the Mayor's Office that will be focused on cultivating events for our City, streamlining the special events process for neighborhoods, and coordinating with community-based partners. This effort is part of a broader plan to support the arts engine in our city, including a renewed and more focused BOPA investment.

Responsible Stewardship of City Resources

The preliminary budget invests $219.2 million across all funds in services focused on the responsible stewardship of city resources. Key highlights and investments include:

• Investment to Reduce Reliance on Contracted Services: During the pandemic, many services within City government turned to utilizing external contractors to backfill vacancies in critical City positions. This budget provides funding to create quality City jobs to replace the use of contractors within the Department of Finance and Information Technology. This transition is estimated to save the City $1.5 million annually.
• Continued Focus on Core Service Delivery: One of the core tenets of the Mayor's second term is to enhance and improve core City services that our residents depend on. Whether it is ensuring trash is collected or that potholes are being repaired in a timely manner, this budget continues to focus all levels of City government on making these services work better for city residents. The Office of Performance and I-Team (Innovation Team) will continue to help agencies better leverage data to improve these services.

Capital Budget Increase

The FY2026 capital budget includes the largest investment in capital budget spending in 20 years, driven by $125 million in GO Borrowing for capital projects, a 56% increase from prior borrowing levels. This will grow investments in affordable housing, school construction, and city parks. The budget will also invest $40 million in additional capital projects, allowing increased investment in homeless shelters, home ownership incentives, and parks facilities.

The Road Ahead

While the City of Baltimore cannot control how decisions being made at the federal level will flow through to our community, we can ensure we have tools in place to weather upcoming challenges. The plan the Mayor has laid out for FY2026 continues to deliver fiscal stewardship through a structurally balanced budget, while making measured investments in services that improve quality of life for Baltimore residents.

The full FY2026 Preliminary Budget Proposal can be found here.