Baltimore City voters will face several questions on this fall's ballot, including one that would reduce the size of the city council from 14 to eight members and another dealing with the redevelopment of the Inner Harbor. Photo from stock.adobe.com.
Eight local ballot questions will be decided by Baltimore voters in November.
While many of the questions are routine monetary issues, a couple have generated debate and controversy: an Inner Harbor redevelopment plan and an effort to cut the size of the city council.
Other citizen-led efforts to cut the city’s property tax and give cash payments to new parents were struck down by the courts before ballots were printed.
City voters have considered 50 charter amendments since 1999; only one measure has been rejected.
Marylanders can register to vote during early voting and on Election Day.
If you want to find out where you can vote early, between Oct. 24 and Oct. 31, click here.
To find out where to drop off a mail ballot at a dropbox, click here. Ballot boxes are open through 8 p.m. on Nov. 5, Election Day.
Want to see a sample ballot for your county? The State Board of Elections has a list of every approved ballot for the November election on its website.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the ballot questions in Baltimore this year:
Question A
This bond issue would allow Baltimore officials to borrow up to $20 million for the city’s affordable housing program. The borrowed money would be used to support the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, to demolish blighted properties and for a slew of other affordable housing measures.
Question B
This bond issue would allow city officials to borrow up to $55 million to modernize existing school buildings and to build new ones.
Question C
This bond issue would allow officials to borrow up to $50 million for the city’s community and economic development programs. These programs include dealing with blight in the city and incentivizing new development through loans and grants.
Question D
The final bond measure of Baltimore’s ballot would let city officials borrow up to $125 million for public infrastructure, including renovating public buildings and repairing streets in the city.
Question E
This question would amend the city’s charter to establish the Baltimore City Police Department as “an agency of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore.” It is the final step in transferring local control of the police force to the city government, a shift that nearly 83% of voters approved in a 2022 ballot question.
The state of Maryland seized statutory authority over the police agency in 1860 because of violence and corruption by the Know-Nothing Party, which controlled city politics.
Question F
The ballot question, if approved by voters, would clear the way for redevelopment of the city’s Inner Harbor area. Developers and the city want to redevelop the existing retail pavilions. Built by The Rouse Co., the pavilions opened in 1980 and signaled a renaissance for the downtown area, but in recent years the pavilions have lost both their luster and their tenants.
The charter amendment would specifically amend the city’s charter to allow land that’s currently classified for public park uses to be used for commercial purposes.
The change is part of a broader deal struck by the Baltimore City Council, the mayor and MCB Real Estate, which proposed a nearly $1 billion project to overhaul the Harbor area.
The plan has drawn criticism as a developer giveaway that could limit public access to the waterfront.
A group of city voters sought to have the question stricken from the ballot, challenging the legality of the question and the wording, which they argued was unnecessarily confusing.
The Maryland Supreme Court unanimously concluded on Oct. 10 that the question was valid and votes will count.
Question G
This measure would establish a “lockbox” fund for the city’s new Community Reinvestment and Reparations Fund.
When Maryland lawmakers approved cannabis legalization in 2022, they required that some revenue from the sales would fund community-based organizations in neighborhoods previously harmed by disproportionate enforcement of marijuana laws.
The funds can be used for afterschool programs, job training, mental health and addiction treatment, and other efforts. The Baltimore City Council and mayor established a 17-member commission to oversee the fund.
Establishing the program as a non-lapsing fund, or lockbox, means the city cannot access any balance of the fund for any other purposes, including during economic downturns.
Question H
Baltimore’s City Council is comprised of the council president, who is elected citywide, and council members from 14 single-member districts.
This ballot measure would nearly halve the number of council members and council districts to eight.
The measure — the only citizen-driven question to reach the ballot — was spearheaded and funded by David Smith, the conservative chairman of the Sinclair television network and owner of The Baltimore Sun. In 2022, Smith was behind a successful effort to establish a two-term limit for elected officials in the city.
Supporters of the amendment say the council should shrink as the city’s population has.
The current council size was set in 2002, when voters approved a measure to reduce the council from 18 members and establish 14 single-member districts.
Each of the 14 council members represented about 45,893 residents at that time; today, that ratio has dropped to about 40,000. The proposal would mean that each member on an eight-person council would represent more than 70,000 people.
Supporters of the amendment also argue that it would save the city money. There were 81 budgeted positions for the council’s office this fiscal year, with an operating budget of $10.6 million. (The city’s total budget is more than $3.4 billion.)
However, the city’s Charter Review Commission argued that fewer members of the city council would simply mean a higher workload for a reconfigured office and would not yield savings.
The commission also expressed concern that a smaller council would “diminish Black electoral power in a majority Black city” and that a smaller council could be more easily swayed by powerful special interests.
Others have argued that council members with more compact districts are more closely connected to and accountable to their constituents.
The charter review commission ultimately concluded that a less-drastic change to the council composition — a reduction of two council members — would be a better alternative, though that’s not on the ballot.