Baltimore officials must now notify the City Council president and city comptroller when they request emergency spending funds.
The agreement is a compromise between competing proposals from Comptroller Bill Henry and Mayor Brandon Scott.
Henry had previously said the five-member Board of Estimates often doesn’t learn about emergency contracts until months or years after the money has been spent. He estimated in a meeting with The Baltimore Sun’s editorial board that the city has spent at least $41 million in emergency funds in the last two years.
His initial proposal would have required finance officials to immediately notify the council president and comptroller at the same time as the director of finance, who has the power to unilaterally approve spending requests.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Lia Russell over at The Baltimore Sun
