Taxpayer advocate criticizes Baltimore City journey bills as BOE vote approaches

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — As Baltimore heads right into a busy journey season, town’s Board of Estimates is ready to vote Wednesday on dozens of journey expense reviews, most of them from the mayor’s workplace.

Taxpayer advocate David Williams criticized the amount of journeys and the prices being charged to the general public.

“The mayor’s office at this point, looks more like a travel agency,” Williams stated.

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Among the journey requests up for approval is a two-day journey for Baltimore’s arts director to attend the Atlanta Jazz Festival, with bills totaling $1,602. The metropolis stated the journey is a chance to “observe a large scale event… operating in a park like setting.”

Another request involves a city worker hired three months ago who is scheduled to travel to Dallas on a trip costing $1,177 to tour the Downtown Partnership in Dallas and “help understand how they interface with their data.”

In two weeks, the city plans to staff the annual shopping center convention in Las Vegas. Two city staffers have already filed expenses totaling more than $7,400. The city said the goal is to develop retail and commercial opportunities.

Next week, the mayor’s office is scheduled to send eight city workers to a community action conference in Oxon Hill, Md. Their overnight stays in Prince George’s County are expected to cost taxpayers more than $10,000. The city said the workers will learn from their peers and build a meaningful professional community.

Williams argued many of the trips are unnecessary.

“A lot of this could be done virtually or not at all because taxpayers aren’t seeing the benefits from the trips,” he stated.

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The journey bills are anticipated to be accredited. Aside from the comptroller and the City Council president, the mayor and his two appointees on the Board of Estimates management a majority of the votes.

“The people traveling are from the office of the mayor and of course the Board of Estimates controlled by the mayor is going to approve the spending no matter how ridiculous it is,” he stated.

It’s been greater than 4 years since Comptroller Bill Henry has accredited any journey bills.

“Part of this is a philosophical issue of how Baltimore City is structured,” Henry stated.

Henry is asking for an overhaul of town’s journey insurance policies.

Williams stated town is overspending and under-producing, arguing that higher costs might be discovered.

“Any 15-year-old could go on a travel website and find better deals than what Baltimore officials are paying for,” Williams stated. “The Board of Estimates needs to do a better job to be a watchdog for taxpayers and they are not doing their job.”