Baltimore City Council grilled city financial leaders Thursday about increasingly bloated overtime spending and hundreds of vacant positions, questioning whether there are other ways to balance the budget than fee increases sought by Mayor Brandon Scott.

The inquiry came less than a week before the council will embark on a weeklong series of budget hearings to drill down on Scott’s proposed $4.6 billion budget.

The spending plan, which must be finalized by the end of June, plugs an $85 million deficit — the difference between revenues and expenditures — with increased fees on landfill use, EMS transports, and ride-sharing and taxi rides, as well as other yet to be determined fees and fines.

Council President Zeke Cohen, a Democrat who chaired Thursday’s meeting, has been critical of the proposed fee increases, arguing they would further strain residents who are already burdened by rate hikes to their water, gas and electric bills.

“We should not be looking to raise fines and fees on the backs of residents while we are budgeting millions of dollars for expenditures we are not actually going to make,” Cohen said Thursday.

Baltimore spent $114 million from its general fund on overtime in calendar year 2023, according to calculations made by Cohen. That cost jumped to $139 million in 2024.

Much of that expense is due to vacancies in several key city agencies, particularly the Police Department which budget officials said has 718 vacant spots. The Fire Department has 202 vacant positions, made up almost entirely of paramedics.

Citywide, 2,736 jobs sit empty, according to budget officials. Of those jobs, 37% have been vacant for longer than 18 months, a figure council members seized upon. Several members questioned why the long-vacant positions could not be removed from the budget and the money reallocated for overtime.

Baltimore leaders have already been reallocating the funds on an informal basis. When overtime spending runs over budget, money unspent on vacant positions is used to cover the cost. The movements are approved by the council at the end of the budget year via supplemental allocations.

“We’re keeping these positions open with the hope that we can fill them, but we’re not going to add 500 new (police) officers,” said Councilman Ryan Dorsey, a Democrat representing northeast Baltimore. “We can keep plenty of hope alive if we can just limit ourselves to the [jobs] that are [open] 18 months or less.”

Budget Director Laura Larsen said the city’s consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice mandates a certain staffing level in the Police Department.

“I think there has been sensitivity in showing a deduction in the authorized force in the department even if those dollars are getting reallocated to overtime, while the city is under the consent decree,” Larsen said.

“So what I’m hearing you say is we don’t want to show how we are actually staffing the shifts,” said Councilman Zac Blanchard, a Democrat who represents the city’s downtown, Federal Hill and Locust Point.

“That is a stated goal to try to get those [positions] filled,” Larsen said. “Now is it a challenging goal in terms of how to get there? Certainly.”

Council members lamented the process, calling it “dishonest” and “bad faith budgeting.”

Councilwoman Danielle McCray, chairwoman of the council’s Budget and Appropriations Committee, questioned Larsen about the city’s overtime picture for the current fiscal year, which began July 1 and will end June 30. Larsen said $76.7 million was budgeted for overtime in fiscal year 2025. Based on current forecasts, the city expects to spend $144 million on overtime by June 30, she said.

“The council can’t be expected to write blank checks for agencies to do whatever they want to do, and then we have to come and approve the supplemental on the back end,” McCray said.

Budget hearings will begin Wednesday at 9 a.m.