One of the ways Baltimore’s extraordinarily strong-executive form of governance works involves the Board of Estimates, the five-member spending board controlled by three members appointed by the mayor. The other two – the independently elected City Council President and Comptroller – have seats at the table, if only to provide needed outside scrutiny of how the public’s money moves.
If voters approve Question F in next week’s Baltimore City General Election, much of the Board of Estimates’ budgeting responsibilities would be moved to the executive branch. Thus, with only the mayor’s people having eyes on the budget, the process would move into a black box controlled by the mayor.
I’m going to call this “black-box budgeting.” The public gets to see what goes in and what comes out, but only insiders know what’s happening inside.
That doesn’t seem like a good idea.
If Question F, which I described in greater detail here, is being promoted as a way to streamline government operations with an eye to greater efficiency, then prudence would dictate coming up with a better plan than this.
