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Before the public comments rolled in, Comptroller Bill Henry expressed amazement that the city's proposed FY2022 budget does not “cut even .1%" from the police” budget but instead increases it by 5%. Even Mayor Scott’s opening remarks expressed the desire to cut the police funding in the future, even as he tried to explain the proposed increase of nearly $28 million. Add your name, neighborhood & story to the simple message here.
Then resident after resident, dozens of them, came forward to testify for cuts to the police -- with specific demands to remove from $100 million up to 25% (which would be over $138 million. Over and over they demanded a litany of investments that would do more to protect public health and safety. Proposed increases in FY2022 is more than the City Council cut last year as protesters rallied and painted DEFUND THE POLICE outside City Hall. Baltimore already spends more per resident on police than the 72 largest cities in the US. “Baltimore is one of the Blackest cities in America and spends the most per capital on police,” testified Shaquille Carbon, Communities’s United’s organizing director. Communities United presented members of the Board of Estimates an independent analysis of the preliminary FY2022 budget that revealed the same misplaced priorities of previous administrations. “This year’s increase continues the structural inequity of an entrenched, ever increasing police budget that consumes more and more of the city’s discretionary spending year after year,” Carbon continued. Last month, Communities United sent a letter to Mayor Scott and the other members of the Board of Estimates making the case for a 25% cut from the police and reinvestment of these funds in solutions that are proven to support real community health and safety. Why 25%? Defunding Baltimore’s police by 25% would bring the department’s spending in line with the cost of some other expensive city police forces. Baltimore would still be one of the nation’s most expensive departments. It is also significant enough to help Baltimore meet its required increase in school funding ($161.5 million by 2030) to receive an transformational $585 million increase in state school funding, as promised under the Blueprint for Maryland's Future. The FY2022 budget actually cuts $12 million in general fund dollars and $41 million overall from the schools. Mayor Scott led the effort to cut $22 million from the police budget last June. He recently announced that he would create a task force to develop a five year plan to reduce the police budget. And he stood up to attacks from Governor Hogan over that proposal. #Defund2Refund is a campaign led by Communities United to right-size Baltimore’s police budget to free up public dollars to reinvest in health, schools, jobs and more in neighborhoods now facing crime, poverty, overdoses, and over-policing. If you tried to get on or get heard at Baltimore's BOE Taxpayers' Night last night & couldn't, we want to hear from you. Also, they will all accept public testimony through April 30, 2021, via email ([email protected]) or voicemail, 410-396-8873. Comments are closed.
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