* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Kraft
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
Title
Informational Hearing - An Update from the State's Attorney's Office
FOR the purpose of respectfully requesting the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office to address the City Council in order to review operations and programs so that vital positions in the pursuit of crime in Baltimore City are identified, and to explain the plans to transition these positions from being grant funded to being in the operating budget.
Body
Recitals
On May 23, 2005 Baltimore City State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy stood before the City Council's Budget and Appropriations Committee in an effort to convince public officials that her office should be provided with a portion of the $37 million City budget surplus. Ms. Jessamy told the Committee that she desperately needed $2.2 million in addition to her $22.3 million budget allocation from the City in order to make up for waning State and federal grants.
Of 391 positions, Ms. Jessamy's office has 280 city-funded positions and 111 grant-funded positions. The temporary grants that pay for 33 employees are due to expire in December, 2005. Of the 200 prosecutors in the State Attorney's office, 21 of them are accounted for under these short-term grants, including 7 gun prosecutors.
Although her office has received increased funding in recent years, Ms. Jessamy argued that the growing demand for prosecutors requires more money from the city in order to for the State's Attorney's Office to serve the city's justice system adequately. Ms. Jessamy emphasized to city officials that additional funds would not pay for new initiatives but, instead, would cover the cost of maintaining her office.
Upon review, Mayor Martin O'Malley exceeded the State's Attorney's original request to fund her office by granting her $2.8 million. Although this enables city prosecutors to continue their battle against city crime, it is by no means a permanent fix. In order to ensure that the State's Attorney's Office's most vital positions are secure beyond Fiscal Year 2006, Ms. Jessamy's office should work to tie them to a steadier, more permanent funding source rather than short-term grants.
It is important for the City Council to understand the management plans of the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office to identify vital positions in the office and transition them from temporary grant funding to a permanent place in the State's Attorney's Office's operating budget. This is essential to the security of the Baltimore City justice system and crime fighting mechanism.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That
the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office is requested to address the City Council in order to review operations and programs so that vital positions in the pursuit of crime in Baltimore City are identified. Once done, the State's Attorney's Office is requested to explain her plans to transition these positions from being grant funded into the operating budget.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office, the Baltimore City Police Department, the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the Council.
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