Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was joined by Councilman Edward Reisinger and Councilman Robert Curran to call for an up-or-down vote on the proposed beverage container fee and highlighted critical services that keep Baltimore clean—street sweeping, graffiti removal and waterway maintenance—which would be reduced or eliminated if additional revenue is not approved be the City Council. Mayor Rawlings-Blake joined Department of Public Works employees cleaning debris from the harbor and east Baltimore.

“Every day of the week, the City employees clean our streets, our water, and rid our walls of graffiti. We cannot afford to lose these services,” said Mayor Rawlings-Blake. “We have an opportunity to restore these jobs and keep Baltimore’s streets and Harbor clean.”

To fix Baltimore’s $121 million budget deficit without drastically cutting public safety and essential services or raising property taxes, the Mayor introduced a Comprehensive Plan. The Plan closes the $121 million budget deficit with roughly $70 million in tough spending reductions (60%) and $50 million in new diversified revenue (40%), filling critical service gaps in the Fiscal Year 2011 Preliminary Budget. As of today, the Council has approved only $42 million in new revenue.

Additional revenue can be generated by the Four Cent Beverage Container Surcharge, which was introduced by the Mayor two months ago and has not been scheduled for a vote by the City Council. The proposal exempts milk, juice, and “economy size” containers 2 liters or larger in order to minimize the burden on struggling families. It promotes the City’s environmental and goals by encouraging the use of refillable containers. With county commuters and tourists who utilize City services also paying the surcharge, the burden is shared, and the proposal will generate an estimated $11.4 million.

In April, the Mayor sent a letter to the City Council outlining her “clean” priorities, stating, “I look forward to working with the City Council to determine how the additional $8 million of proposed revenue could be used most effectively. High on my list are important services that keep the City clean, including restoring graffiti removal crews, waterways maintenance, mechanical street sweeping, and corner can collection, all of which are reduced in these recommendations.”

The following are Mayor’s priority ‘clean’ service restorations for Baltimore:

• Graffiti removal crews ($626,000, 9 filled positions). Last year, 7 crews were sent out to answer 5,700 calls for service. After the cuts, only 3 crews would remain to answer the same calls.
• Waterways maintenance, ($952,000, 7 filled positions). Every day, boats patrol Baltimore’s waters cleaning up bottles, cans and other unsightly litter.
• Mechanical street sweeping ($780,000). In 2009, City crews swept 61,774 miles of streets, collecting more than 7000 tons of trash. Without new funding, this number will be cut in half—roughly 28,000 fewer miles of will be swept next year. More than 3000 tons of trash may be left uncollected.
• Weekend corner can collection, ($350,000). In residential and business districts, these cans are an essential part of keeping litter off the streets. Without this service, cans will not be emptied between Friday afternoon and Monday morning.
• Business district cleaning ($1.6M, 27 filled positions).
• Restore vacant property boarding and cleaning ($833,000). Without funding, there will be approximately 8,300 fewer boarding and cleanings of vacant property in communities. Vacant properties are a magnet for crime and garbage.
• Total: $5.14 Million

“None of these restorations are possible until the City Council takes action,” said Mayor Rawlings-Blake. “I strongly urge the Council to approve the beverage container fee so we can avoid these potentially devastating cuts