By: Melody Simmons

If it’s the end of daylight-saving time, it’s budget time in Baltimore.

And with a projected $50 million budget shortfall for 2012, many in city government are already singing the blues.

That’s expected to be the case during two budget workshops scheduled for December and January with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced Friday by City Hall officials.

(Rawlings-Blake, a Democrat, is expected to easily win her first, full term Tuesday when she faces Republican challenger Alfred V. Griffin III and write-in Republican candidate Steven H. Smith in the general election.)

The first workshop will be held on Dec. 14 at the American Brewery Building, 1701 N. Gay St., from 6-8 p.m. The second one will be Jan. 21 at Cylburn Arboretum’s Vollmer Center, 4915 Greenspring Ave., from 10 a.m until noon.

The workshops are described as hands-on — and likely will require the use of a red marking pen.

“The Mayor’s Budget Workshops provide an opportunity for citizens to roll up their sleeves,” a release from Rawlings-Blake’s office said. “The workshop will begin with a short presentation and Q&A about the City’s fiscal situation.  Participants will then complete a realistic budget balancing exercise: deciding which services to cut, and which ones to protect.”

After the cost-cutting exercises, the mayor will open up the floor to recommendations on how to craft her budget “at a time of unprecedented fiscal stress.”