Benefits District Will Not Terminate Employees

The Charles Village Community Benefits District will not fire any employees despite having to work with a budget that will force it to cut services because the city rejected its request for a

David Hill, executive director of the benefits district, said Monday that no employees will be terminated but one position that is open will remain unfilled.

The news comes after Baltimore's Board of Estimates approved the benefits district’s tax rate at 12 cents per $100 of assessed value last Wednesday. The district hasn’t increased the surtax in more than a decade.

Earlier this month, the board had rejected the benefits district’s proposed fiscal year 2012 budget that included an increase of 1.4 cents of the surtax charged to property owners in the district.

At that time, Hill said it was possible the benefits district would have to lay off employees. The benefits district is anticipating having $43,000 less in this fiscal year than it did the previous year because of falling property values. He had criticized the board's move as being an election year attempt to avoid raising taxes.

Hill said the district will reduce the amount that employees clean the alleys in the area from once a week to twice a month. Bulk trash removal will be reduced from twice a week to once a week. And weekend cleaning of areas in the southern portion of the district will be reduced “substantially.”

A planned “living wage increase” for employees to about $12 an hour has also been scrapped.

Hill also said that more cost cutting measures could be on the way if revenues from the surtax fall further than expected.

The benefits district is one of four special tax districts in the city that provide supplementary services beyond what city agencies already provide.

The Charles Village Benefits District has the lowest surtax rate of the four districts. The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore’s rate is set at 21.3 cents per $100 of assessed value. The Midtown Community Benefits District is set at 13.2 cents. And the Waterfront Management District has a rate of 17 cents.