Assignment w9 - 5408

Running head: BALTIMORE CITY OPERATING BUDGET FISCAL YEAR 2018 1

BALTIMORE CITY OPERATING BUDGET FISCAL YEAR 2018 3

Baltimore City Operating Budget Fiscal Year 2018

Unit 2 Assignment 1

July 21, 2019

Budget Url: http://openbudget.baltimorecity.gov/#!/year/2018/operating/1/service?vis=percentageChart

Community Background

Baltimore is one of the largest cities in the United States by surface area and population. It is located along the banks of Patapsco River at the center of the state of Maryland with a population of about 611,648 according to a 2018 survey. A recent ACS reveals that 62.80% of the people in Baltimore city are of African American origin while 30.29% are whites, and 2.56% are of Asian origin ("Brief Economic Facts BALTIMORE CITY, MARYLAND," 2019). The city has experienced a negative population growth rate for the past four years due to increased cases of people living in the city. Baltimore city is a strategic economic hub of the Maryland state due to its proximity to railway systems, roads, airports, and water ports that make it attractive to investors.

The key industrial sectors in Baltimore city include manufacturing, logistics, health, biotechnical sciences, and finance. The city is home to the leading businesses such as Under Armour, Morgan Stanley, Exelon, and Pandora Americas among other industries whose annual output is approximately $36.7 billion ("Brief Economic Facts BALTIMORE CITY, MARYLAND," 2019). The city is also home to about 70 federal agencies and 12 colleges. In the 2018 operating budget of the Baltimore City, 30.69% of the budget is allocated to ensuring security, 29.34% allocated towards sustainable agriculture, 15% allocated to youths affairs, and 8% was allocated towards promoting community health ("$2.90 Billion Operating Budget 2018", 2018). Other allocations in the Baltimore city budget include 5.52% of the budget to ensure a vibrant economy and 4.98% allocation to sustain a high performing government. In terms of budget funding, 62.61% of the total city budget is sourced from general funding while 9.31% is funded from the wastewater utility, and 6.02% is funded from the federal banks ("$2.90 Billion Operating Budget 2018", 2018). Other sources of funding for the Baltimore city budget include water utility, internal service, special funds, state, parking enterprise, convention center bond, conduit enterprise, and loans.

Health Budget

The mission of the Baltimore community health department is to ensure access to quality and affordable healthcare through health promotion interventions and health education. Baltimore city is the home to John Hopkins Hospital, which is among the largest health institutions in the United States. The city healthcare department is sufficient enough to cater for the population health needs, but the lack of adequate resources has been the greatest challenge. A preview of this budget reveals that security is one of the highly funded sectors in the city of Baltimore. The choice of a state budget to work with throughout the quarter is health. Community health is one of the most basic needs of a population, thus requires sufficient budgeting to ensure that the city dwellers have access to quality and affordable healthcare.

According to a current study, the $235 million budget allocation towards health promotion in the city of Baltimore is not sufficient to address the health concerns of the city ("$2.90 Billion Operating Budget 2018", 2018). For instance, staffing is one of the most serious problems facing Baltimore city health department due to the lack of enough funds to hire professionals such as food control inspectors and nurses. This has resulted in increased health issues such as the spread of diseases and disaster preparedness. Addressing issues such as chronic disease prevention, restaurant inspections, public health, and animal control would significantly boost Baltimore community health. Focusing on the Baltimore community health would inform the formulation of policy interventions to address the challenges as imperative for the reduction in the treatment budget.

References

$2.90 Billion Operating Budget 2018. (2018). Retrieved 20 July 2019, from http://openbudget.baltimorecity.gov/#!/year/2018/operating/0/service?vis=barChart

Brief Economic Facts BALTIMORE CITY, MARYLAND. (2019). Retrieved 21 July 2019, from http://commerce.maryland.gov/Documents/ResearchDocument/BaltCityBef.pdf