Baltimore Agencies With $1B Budget Have Fiscal Oversight Problems

While two of the City of Baltimore’s municipal departments received a collective $1 billion in funding in 2022 they were cited in audits for “fiscal oversight issues.”

Two audits from Baltimore City Comptroller Bill Henry’s office found that almost half of the Department of Public Works’ timesheets were missing and the Department of Finance had unidentified receipts.

While the DPW received $937 million in combined funding from the city budget, grants and capital project funding, the audit found that the DPW “must modernize and update its payroll, internal payment and purchase order practices,” according to a comptroller’s office press release.

DPW couldn’t provide documentation “for selected FY 2020 payroll activities for testing nor demonstrate if payroll was recorded accurately,” the audit found.

Of the sampled payroll records, 47 percent were missing timesheets and 26 percent were missing approval for overtime, compensatory time or leave, the comptroller’s office found on page 20 of the report.

The Department of Finance got almost $40 million in funding in 2022 and the report found problems with its receipts. While the city got funds from various sources, the Bureau of Accounting and Payroll Services didn’t know which account it should be posted to.

These unidentified receipts were an issue because until the revenue is posted, the amount is shown as a city liability, the comptroller’s office reported.

The Department of Audits reviewed 60 unidentified receipts worth $16.5 million — about 46 percent of the $35.9 million in total unidentified receipts found. It found appropriate records for 49 unidentified receipts, with the other 11 (totaling $938,000) remaining unidentified.

With almost $1 billion in taxpayer funds going to these departments, they should at the very least track how that money is being used.

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