Baltimore is launching a national search for two finance department employees — for a price tag that exceeds the average salary the city pays its workers.
The Board of Estimates voted unanimously Wednesday to pay $60,000 to Ralph Andersen and Associates, a California-based headhunting firm, to search for a deputy finance director and a chief information officer.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the importance of the positions necessitated hiring an outside firm, rather than relying on the city's human resource department, which handles most candidate searches.
"The city is a $2.2 billion corporation and I intend to run it as such," Rawlings-Blake said. "I want to know I am getting the best and brightest at this level."
The finance department, which is charged with crafting the city's budget, has been thrust into a prominent role in recent months as the city struggles with a $121 million shortfall.
About 250 city workers are expected to lose their jobs next month, even if the City Council agrees to a $50 million package of taxes and fees drafted by the Rawlings-Blake administration.
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