City Council Schedules Budget Hearings

Dear Baltimoreans,

The Baltimore City Council will spend the coming weeks holding public hearings on Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s proposed fiscal year 2014 budget request.

Budget season at the City Council is a very important time to learn about the general public’s funding priorities. We want to hear from as many of our constituents as possible.

While the budget hearings are not open to public testimony, we do want to hear from citizens during the annual Taxpayers’ Night, which is scheduled to occur over two days this year. The following guidelines, however, will be enforced:

Persons wishing to offer oral testimony must sign-in and state their name, the community in which they reside and who (if anyone) they represent for the record.

Individuals offering testimony will be limited to a single 2 minute presentation.

If multiple people from an organization or affiliated group are present, one representative must be designated to speak on behalf of that organization or group.

Individuals may not sign-in to testify and then yield their time to another presenter. As stated previously, all individuals will be permitted to testify only once. If the individual has points they wish to raise that cannot be addressed in the allotted 2 minute time period, they may submit written testimony to committee staff at the hearing.

Anyone failing to comply with any of these guidelines may be considered disruptive and asked to leave the City Council Chambers.

Below is a complete listing of the upcoming budget hearings. Please note that the schedule is subject to change.

Thursday, May 9
5:00 p.m.                                
Taxpayers’ Night – Council Chambers *

Friday, May 10: BUDGET OVERVIEW & BUDGET HEARINGS
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.           
Department of Finance
Family League
Recreation and Parks

Tuesday, May 28: BUDGET HEARINGS
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.           
Department of Housing and Community Development
Baltimore Development Corporation
Department of Real Estate
Department of General Services
Department of Public Works

Thursday, May 30: BUDGET HEARINGS
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.           
Planning Department
Department of Transportation
Department of Human Resources
Labor Commission
Employees’ Retirement System

Friday, May 31: BUDGET HEARINGS
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.           
Health Department
Commission on Aging
Mayor’s Office of Human Services
Visit Baltimore
Convention Center

Wednesday, June 5: BUDGET HEARINGS       
4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.             
Fire Department
Police Department
Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice

Thursday, June 6: BUDGET HEARINGS
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.             
Baltimore City Public School System
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.            
Recall agencies for follow-up

Friday, June 7: BUDGET HEARINGS
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.           
Recall agencies for follow-up

Wednesday, June 12: BUDGET HEARINGS
4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.             
Recall agencies for follow-up

Thursday, June 13               
5:00 p.m.                                
Taxpayers’ Night follow up – Council Chambers *

Friday, June 14
10:00 a.m.                            
Budget voting session

*Asterisks denote televised hearings