Project SCOPE (Selling City-Owned Properties Efficiently)
Funder: Goldseker Foundation

BEEF convened a task force of pertinent City agency representatives to agree upon ways to streamline and improve the City’s process for getting surplus property back on the market. Its strategy for engaging the private sector has made SCOPE a national model which numerous other localities are looking to emulate.

The pilot program harnessed the professional skills of the local real estate market. The real estate brokers multiple-listed the properties and actively marketed them for sale, rehabilitation, and occupancy. Project SCOPE successfully sold 284 City-owned vacant properties bringing the $7.2 million in gross revenue to the City. The rehabilitation costs associated with the sold properties are estimated to amount to nearly $20 million; based upon economic impact model assumptions, that represents 179 person years of employment.

School Meal Reform Opportunities for the Baltimore City Public School System
Funder: The Abell Foundation
The study recommends that the City school system form reform directions and goals and develop a strategic recruitment process to find and hire a Food Service Director who will have the competencies to undertake a meals initiative in line with its direction. This extensive report can be used as an evaluative instrument. The study further recommends interrupting the ordinary procurement process so that medium or long-term contracts cannot obstruct a reform initiative. Start immediately, even before the new Food Services Director is hired to identify resources and partners so that the person is hired he/she will have the have resources ready to cultivate and put to work for the success.

The consultant uncovered the hidden potential of the Bragg Nature center which has since become the Great Kids Farm providing opportunities for Baltimore City school students to understand and participate in every aspect of food preparation. From seed to fork – the program prepares them to lead 21st century sustainability efforts.

The BEEF project also led the City school system to its next Food Director, Tony Geraci, whose promotional abilities raised public awareness of the importance of quality school meals.

City of Baltimore Healthcare and Compensation Practices
Funders: Goldseker Foundation & City of Baltimore
The BEEF report supported the City’s goal to bring its healthcare benefits costs in line with other Maryland jurisdictions. It identified a minimum of $20 million in potential immediate savings and in cost controls that did not impact the quality of benefits offered to employees. The City in partnership with its bargaining units made some fundamental changes in plan design and employee cost to successfully manage its excellent plan of coverage over time.

Baltimore City Council Transition Commission
Funder: City of Baltimore
The Baltimore City Council Transition Commission was created by the City Council in December 2003. BEEF organized and managed the Commission to guide the City Council’s management of its restructuring from six, three-member districts to fourteen, single-member districts. Tion considered Budget and Miscellaneous Matters, Land Use, Open Government, and Ordinance and Administrative Rules. It held public hearings on March 11 and June 8, 2004. All of the Commission’s recommendations were endorsed by a majority of its members, almost all unanimously. The Commission’s work brought about a much smoother transition than had been anticipate.

Procurement Approval Process in Baltimore City Government
Funder: The Abell Foundation
BEEF conducted a comparative analysis of the procurement approval process in Baltimore City, other home rule Maryland counties, and selected cities around the country. The study grew out of the debate around a 2007 proposal to make adjustments in the Baltimore City charter that address efficiency, transparency of city government actions, access and equity (for vendors, particularly minority-owned, women-owned, and small companies), and respective roles of the Mayor and City Council.

The report was the foundation for a BEEF-supported procurement charter amendment that passed in the election referendum on November 2, 2010. The authority to set the threshold of expenditure requiring Board of Estimates approval is no longer specified in the Charter, but is now under City Council jurisdiction.

Procurement Report Appendices are also available for download.

Baltimore City Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Review
Self-funded
The study examines whether Baltimore City was providing fuel for its vehicles and equipment in the most cost effective and efficient manner possible.

The consultants concluded that the in-house fueling of the City’s fleet is more economical that using commercial fueling facilities, but this is only because of the investment the City already has in its existing fueling facilities. The consultants recommended reducing the number of fueling sites from 21 sites and 3 fueling mobiles to five strategically located fueling centers with adequate fuel storage capacity and a sufficient number of dispensing islands open around-the-clock with sufficient fuel supply would met the City’s fueling needs.

Competitive Governance Strategies for Baltimore City: Lessons from Other Cities

Many American cities have sought to reinvent themselves through performance-based government. In this market- and customer-centered approach, competition and innovation - rather than monopoly and bureaucracy - drive the provision of public services.

Various strategies can foster more cost-effective and competitive government. For successful implementation clear goals are essential for: 1) decisions about what services the city should continue to offer its citizens (provided by either public or private parties); 2) evaluating alternative approaches to delivery; and 3) mobilizing the city workforce and the public to become partners in the performance enhancement effort. A focus on customers, whether internal to government in the case of support agencies, or the public for most others, pervades the work of successful cities.

Foreclosure Prevention and Remedy: Recommendations for the City of Baltimore
Funder: The Abell Foundation
2012 promises to be one of Baltimore’s worst years for foreclosure. The City has a better infrastructure of foreclosure-related services now than in 2007 when the foreclosure crisis began, but the scale of funding required to effectuate a full remedy dwarfs available government and non-profit resources.

This report guided the City in its negotiations with Wells Fargo and the Department of Justice in crafting the nearly $200 million national and City settlements and will inform the City on how it spends its discretionary funds.

Economic Impact of Project SCOPE: An Update through 2010
Funder: Goldseker Foundation
SCOPE was a vacant house disposition venture with a new idea: to harness the professional skills of the local real estate market. The real estate brokers multiple-listed the properties and actively marketed them for sale, rehabilitation, and occupancy.

Selected statistics showing the basic economic impact are as follows: Project SCOPE accounted for a total of 284 vacant property sales from the inception through year end 2010. The vacant property sales through 2010 amount to $7.2 million in gross revenue to the City. The rehabilitation costs associated with the sold properties are estimated to amount to nearly $20 million; based upon economic impact model assumptions, that represents 179 person years of employment. If the average value of completed rehabbed homes is $220,000, an estimated new revenue stream of nearly $5,000 per house annually in the form of real estate taxes is now flowing into the city coffers.

Do Tax Credits Help Promote Homeownership? An Analysis of Baltimore City Homeownership Tax Credit Programs
Funders: France-Merrick Foundation and Procter & Gamble Foundation
BEEF analyzed the City’s homeownership tax credit programs to suggest ways these programs could become more effective. Baltimore City has made five tax credit programs available to encourage homeownership and stabilize neighborhoods:
• Newly Constructed Dwellings Tax Credit
• Historic Property Rehabilitation Tax Credit
• Home Improvement Tax Credit
• Rehabilitated Vacant Dwellings Tax Credit
• Waverly Stabilization Tax Credit

These programs offer a credit against an individual’s property taxes. The review studied whether the tax credits are effective? How are tax credits used, marketed and perceived? What could be done to make existing tax credits more effective?

The report concluded that the tax credits could play a much stronger role in neighborhood revitalization efforts and in attracting new residents to the City. This is attributed to the lack of a coordinated marketing effort that reflects a comprehensive vision about the role tax credits can play in the overall revitalization and stabilization of the City. There were no coordinated strategies that utilize the credits as a community development tool, quantitative guidelines by which to measure its success, or cross-promotional efforts. Nor are there efforts to combine the tax credits with existing financial incentives such as low interest loans or grants that could increase their usage rate and therefore enhance their effectiveness.

Real Property Taxes and Tax Exempt Organizations Report
Funders: City of Baltimore and various other private funders.
Baltimore City’s largest source of revenue is property taxes. It has the highest property tax rate in the State of Maryland, more than double that of other Maryland jurisdictions. As much as 29% of the City property is owned by tax exempt organizations or government entities, with a full-cash value of $15.1 billion. Of the 29%, many of the highly valued properties are owned by larger institutions called “meds and eds.”

The rate of growth of tax exempt properties is significant; the City has lost 2,000 properties from its tax rolls in the last 10 years. Private universities, hospitals, retirement homes, cultural institutions, and State and federal governments are all exempt from property taxes. Nonprofits are private providers of public services, from soup kitchens and homeless shelters to churches, group homes, and community health centers.

More than 117 U.S. municipalities, including Baltimore City, use payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) as a method for addressing the issue of lost revenue due to property tax exemptions for private institutions; compensating cities in a modest way for public services being used by the non-profit entities. PILOTs also recognize the multitude of often free educational, human and medical services rendered by non-profits to city residents.

Additional Resources:
- Baltimore City Anchor Plan
- Eds, Meds, and the Feds: How the Federal Government Can Foster the Role of Anchor Institutions in Community Revitalization
- How universities can renew America’s cities
- Payments in Lieu of Taxes by Nonprofits: Which Nonprofits Make PILOTS and Which Localities Receive Them
- The Power of Eds and Meds: Urban Universities Investing in Neighborhood Revitalization and Innovation Districts
- Homewood Community Partners Initiative: A Call to Action

Alternative Revenue Sources and Structures for Baltimore City
Funders: City of Baltimore, France-Merrick Foundation and T. Rowe Price Associates
As Baltimore City continues to face increasing budgetary needs, a structurally insufficient revenue base and sluggish growth, one question persists: How can the City increase revenues without exacerbating city-county tax disparities? Indeed, is it possible to increase revenues while making the existing tax system more equitable?

One of the most promising strategies examined in the study was a regional sales tax levied in support of Baltimore’s cultural and leisure institutions - such as art museums, theater performances regional libraries, parks and recreational centers. Under the plan, such invaluable local and tourist “destinations” as the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the Walters Art Gallery, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Center Stage, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Oregon Ridge, Quiet Waters and B&A Trail parks would be supported by a ½ to one-cent tax on all non-exempt sales in a Baltimore “cultural benefits district.” (The district would encompass Baltimore City, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Harford County and Howard County.)

This approach not only promises to stanch the current hemorrhaging of City-supported cultural institutions, but it also holds out the possibility of actually enhancing those institutions and providing much-needed relief for taxpayers. What’s more, it recognizes the value of cultural institutions to the City and surrounding metropolitan areas, not just as “fringe benefits” but as important economic engines. Surveys consistently indicate that cultural life and safe, beautiful green spaces are top criteria for individuals and businesses who are considering whether to move to – or from – a particular city.

Management of Concessions in Baltimore City Parks
Funder: The Abell Foundation
BEEF examined the management of park concessions in Baltimore City. The study focused on concession possibilities in two large parks - Druid Hill Park and Patterson Park - that draw patrons from their neighborhoods and beyond because of special facilities, and a smaller neighborhood park - Riverside Park. Management approaches used by other localities around the country were also reviewed.

Baltimore Department of Recreation: Operation Review of Special Facilities
Funders: City of Baltimore and France-Merrick Foundation
BEEF evaluated the Department of Recreation & Parks facilities: Howard Peter Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens of Baltimore; Carrie Murray Nature Center; Cylburn Arboretum; Baltimore Rowing and Resource Center; Dominic “Mimi” DiPietro Family Skating Center; and Mt. Pleasant Ice Rink.

The recommendations are directed to further developing and growing each facility to its fullest potential, ultimate affecting the value of the facility and increase its revenues. The biggest revenue enhancing opportunity for these facilities comes from developing and working with a non‐profit organization. In conjunction, each facility should extend its own membership‐based admissions, seek and provide acknowledgement of contributions, increase utilization in non‐core alternative programs, and leverage education programs with schools and the community. Staff optimization, improved marketing and media department support, facility enhancements and upgrades, and automation of the manual components of operational efficiency were needed to create and sustain these revenue enhancing opportunities.

Baltimore Department of Recreation & Parks: Aquatics Review
Funders: Baltimore Community Foundation, T. Rowe Price & Associates Foundation
The Aquatics Division faces a unique management challenge overseeing the widely dispersed pools. City budget cuts have reduced the Aquatics Division staff to the bare-bones, and they have limited use of computers. The Division depends upon only two repairmen from the Department of Public Works to maintain the pools. Summer personnel are short-term and contractual, and the Division must pay off-duty policemen for security. Permitted vendors sell refreshments and give no percentage of their revenues back to the pools. Because the City faces potential liability if a child is injured or drowns, the Aquatics Division takes every precaution to operate a safe environment, and as a result, they have usually exceeded their annual budget.

Making the “System” Work in the Baltimore Criminal Justice System: An Evaluation of Early Disposition Court
Funder: The Abell Foundation
Former Mayor O’Malley’s Early Disposition Court was a pilot program that revealed important lessons about the ability of the Baltimore criminal justice system to succeed in a broad-based effort to conclude minor criminal cases expeditiously and responsibly in District Court. This balanced review of the Early Disposition Court provided needed data to the General Assembly for its vote to continue funding for the Court.