Baltimore's 30,000 Public Employees Cost Taxpayers $2 Billion But Can't Save Their Own City
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2019/07/31/baltimores-81000-public-employees-cost-taxpayers-5-billion-and-cant-save-their-own-city/President Donald Trump’s recent tweet about Baltimore ignited a firestorm of controversy. Baltimore has since become the focal point of a very public fight between Trump and local congressman Elijah Cummings (MD-7).
People on both sides have strong views about Trump’s motives. However, on one level, Trump served to highlight the videos of a local political activist Kimberly Klacik. These videos revealed Baltimore’s systemic problems of rats, abandoned buildings, and trash. Klacik reported that many of the city’s residents feel that they have been forgotten.
How much Baltimore gets in federal grants and direct payment.
How it compares to other cities.
Here's a breakdown of the local units of government -- their employee headcounts and annual cash compensation spending:
The City of Baltimore has 13,522 employees with total payroll exceeding $821 million annually. The mayor’s office alone spent $7 million last year on salaries for 111 employees; another $1 million was spent on public relations.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Las Vegas, Nevada are comparable in population and geographic size to Baltimore. Milwaukee has 7,871 public employees and Las Vegas has 9,569 workers on payroll - including the metro police. Even the City of Detroit has less than 7,100 employees.
Baltimore has a bloated bureaucracy compared to other cities.
Based on our audit, one fact seems clear. If more money for public employees was the answer, Baltimore’s challenges would have been solved long ago.
