Baltimore voters back baby fund, approve other ballot questions

Baltimore voters appear to have approved the creation of a baby fund to assist city families with newborns, after the majority of precincts reported Tuesday.

Votes counted so far include ballots from early voting, most of those cast on Election Day and some mail-in ballots. City elections officials will resume counting mail-in ballots Thursday.

The Maryland Child Alliance campaigned to get the baby fund question on the ballot, collecting signatures from city voters. Money for the fund would come from existing property taxes — $0.03 for every $100 in taxable property value. The group estimates that about $17 million would be set aside in the fund’s first year.

It will be up to Mayor Brandon Scott and the City Council to determine how the money will be spent. Unlike a previous iteration of the ballot question floated in 2024, the language on ballots this year does not guarantee direct cash assistance to families.

Instead, the ballot question creates a fund to be used to “enhance the economic stability of families with newborns,” and stipulates that the money cannot be used to replace existing funding for newborns in the city budget.

Scott has already announced his intent to use the funding for direct cash assistance, although he does not yet have buy-in from the City Council. At a news conference last month, the mayor said he plans to offer one-time cash payments to parents of newborns enrolled in the program. Recipients may be eligible for additional cash assistance or contributions to a Maryland 529 college savings account.

The mayor announced a partnership with CASH Campaign of Maryland to distribute the funds. CASH Campaign coordinated a previous guaranteed income pilot conducted by the city.

Several members of the City Council, including Councilman Mark Parker, who is first in line to legislate on the issue, said they would prefer to see some of the fund used to provide childcare assistance.

Baltimore resident Deonna Smiling, 26, said she voted in favor of the baby fund because of her experience teaching in the city’s school system.

“I have students who need to be taken care of properly and aren’t,” she said. “I was thinking of them.”

Still, Smiling said she had unresolved questions about the measure. She wanted to know how the city government would decide who gets the funds and when the money will be distributed.

“Overall, though, I think it’s important to have,” Smiling said.

Other voters liked the idea of the fund but worried about how it would be executed.

Jessica Lemon, 37, said she liked the fund “in theory.”

“I’m in favor of it, it’s dope,” she said initially.

But the lifelong Baltimorean ultimately decided to vote against the measure, pointing to multiple people she knew who had more than nine children. That, she said, she couldn’t “condone.”

“Children are already off the chain in this city,” Lemon said.

The rest of the alphabet

Voters also appeared poised to approve Question G, which would bar the city’s stormwater system from being sold or rented as a franchise. A 2018 ballot question approved by voters had already made it illegal to sell or lease the city’s water and sewer systems.

Question H, which creates a new city department to handle water and wastewater, also appeared to receive broad approval from voters. Currently, the city Department of Public Works oversees the utilities. The charter amendment separates the two into their own department in an effort to improve the city’s bond rating for water and wastewater.

The measure also better positions the city to regionalize direction of the water and sewer systems, which also serve Baltimore County and other jurisdictions.

Voters were also poised to approve Question E, although preliminary results indicate the margin may be smaller than for other questions on the ballot. The question asked voters to eliminate the requirement that the city award contracts to the lowest bidder.

Proponents of the question argued that vendors have intentionally underbid on city contracts in order to win the work while recouping costs after the fact with multiple change orders.

Voters were also less enthusiastic about Question F, although it was still expected to pass. The unwieldy question aims to clean up the city’s budget-making process to align with modern practices.

The mayor would be responsible for presenting a proposed budget to the City Council by April 30. The amendment would also eliminate the preliminary budget hearing process before the Board of Estimates, generally a formality, and rely on the City Council to hold budget hearings.

The City Council would be responsible for adopting a budget eight days before the July 1 start of the fiscal year. The amendment would allow appropriate time for vetoes and overrides of vetoes before that deadline.

Baltimore Banner reporter Ellie Wolfe contributed to this report.