Mayor’s Proposed Budget Heads To City Council

The Board of Estimates, as expected, gave approval to the mayor’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year.

The budget—officially known as the Ordinance of Estimates—includes a $2.4 billion dollar operating budget, and will now go before the city council for hearings. The budget closes a predicted $30 million shortfall.

Earlier this week, proposals to add a 25-cents excise tax on cab fares, a proposed tax on billboards and a measure to keep the city’s parking tax rate at 20 percent were introduced to the council and are included in Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s suggested budget.

The budget, as approved by the Board of Estimates Wednesday, also includes a proposal to reduce the city’s property tax rate from $2.268 per $100 of assessed value to $2.248 per $100 of assessed value.

The City Council is expected to schedule hearings on the budget with more than two-dozen individual agencies next month, as well as holding a "Taxpayers Night" to gather public input on the budget. 

The fiscal year 2014 budget takes effect on June 30.