Is Baltimore’s public works department too big? A ballot measure would split it.

After bondholders downgraded Baltimore’s debt rating on its sewer system this year, elected leaders are coalescing around a ballot measure that would sever the city’s water and wastewater utilities from the Department of Public Works.

The proposal, which Mayor Brandon Scott, City Council President Zeke Cohen and Comptroller Bill Henry will jointly announce Friday, would ask voters to create a Department of Water and Wastewater as its own city agency.

The regional system, which is owned by Baltimore but also serves residents of Baltimore County, has been part of the Department of Public Works for more than 100 years.

But top city leaders argued in a Thursday briefing that establishing an independent water utility would help restore the city’s bond rating — important for determining the cost of borrowing money — while streamlining operations across an agency that employs more than 2,600 people.

“We have analyzed the future needs of our water system and believe that establishing this new stand-alone agency is the best way to protect this critical city asset, while providing the tools necessary to address future challenges,” Scott said in Friday’s announcement.

The proposed ballot question will first be considered by the Baltimore City Council. If approved by this summer, the measure could appear on ballots in November.

If voters give their blessing, creating a separate department would take until 2029, officials said. They expect the remainder of the public works agency would assume a broader mandate of protecting the environment and be known as the Department of Environmental Services.

Both departments would have their own directors appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council.

Officials said during the briefing that they did not expect costs to increase as a result of the transition. Scott’s administration has recommended more than $1 billion in spending on the water and wastewater bureau for the next fiscal year, and Matthew Garbark, director of the Department of Public Works, said costs should go down under the plan.

Baltimore has struggled to cover rising and sometimes unanticipated expenses related to its sewer system in recent years. The system fell $20.3 million short on revenue in fiscal year 2025, while spending $21.4 million more than anticipated. That left a gap of almost $42 million.

In response, the credit ratings agency S&P Global downgraded Baltimore’s wastewater utility two notches, from an A+ to an A-, in February.

The shortfall came despite repeated rate increases for city customers. Baltimore ratepayers saw a 15% increase in sewer fees in February 2025 and a 9% hike in July.

Public works officials have blamed these rate increases in part on expensive contractors the agency tapped to manage its sewage treatment plants after their operations deteriorated during the coronavirus pandemic.

Environmental compliance has improved in recent years. But a problem processing poop at the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant has cost Baltimore millions of dollars a month. In April, city leaders agreed to pay $39 million to a company that dries sludge from the plants.

Garbark said Thursday that the city expects this bureaucratic change will help it recover its financial footing.

The rating downgrade forced city officials “to act, and to act quickly,” Garbark said.

“This is going to show our partners, our bond rating agencies, our ratepayers that we take the stability of our utilities seriously,” he said.

A regional water governance task force in 2024 recommended splitting up DPW and establishing a stand-alone utility. Officials said Thursday that operating water systems as independent divisions is the norm for major cities.

The proposed charter amendment comes as Baltimore-area leaders explore more sweeping changes to the region’s water management.

Baltimore City and Baltimore County operate joint water and wastewater systems under agreements that date to the 1970s. In addition to Baltimore County water lines serve parts of other surrounding counties, but most of the infrastructure — including the two sewage treatment plants — are owned and operated by the city.

Representatives of both jurisdictions convened another work group this year to study options for a new governance structure that could spread out costs and responsibility for the sprawling system. The previous task force, convened in 2023, found big obstacles to governance under a regional authority, in part because of the debts Baltimore has incurred to manage the system.

Officials swore off the authority idea at an initial task force meeting in January, but they continue to explore other options.

“It will be much easier to have that conversation if we’re talking about a stand-alone operation and not a bureau buried inside of the Department of Public Works,” Henry said.