A $2.1 billion spending plan that Mayor Martin O'Malley said will help Baltimore reverse decades of crime, drug addiction and population loss won approval last night from the City Council and Board of Estimates.
"We're attacking those things, and people are starting to believe again," O'Malley said.
The fiscal 2003 budget aims to achieve that primarily through crime-fighting. It gives $243 million to police, an increase of $14.7 million that will cover a 9 percent raise the city agreed to give officers as part of a three-year contract.
The budget passed the City Council in a 13-3 vote and cleared the Board of Estimates without dissent, capping a budget season that City Hall observers called unusually collegial.
The lack of fireworks was particularly surprising, some said, because the budget calls for 41 custodial jobs to be contracted out - a move union officials vigorously opposed. It is expected to save the city about $600,000 a year.
Some City Council members spoke about the job cuts during budget hearings, but most went along with the plan after the administration promised to help the workers find other city jobs or enter training programs.
One holdout was Councilwoman Helen L. Holton.
"We can't keep going after the least of us to balance the budget," said Holton, who voted against the plan with Bernard C. "Jack" Young and Kenneth N. Harris Sr.
Two of the 19 council members, Robert W. Curran and Lisa Joi Stancil, were out of the room when the vote was taken. Councilwoman Rochelle "Rikki" Spector was absent.
The spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1 increases city spending by 0.3 percent over the current budget. It includes $1.8 billion in operating funds, an increase of 5.6 percent, and $330 million in capital spending, a decrease of 21 percent.
The property tax rate remains $2.328 per $100 of assessed value.
The plan originally called for the elimination of a child care program that serves 115 children. The O'Malley administration agreed to restore $171,000 in funding after council members objected.
In other action last night, the council approved a plan to allow a supermarket to be built in Waverly. Some residents objected, saying it will be too large and that historic Victorian-era houses will have to be condemned.