Driving away with Baltimore’s budget

The Board of Estimates, Baltimore’s spending panel, will hear Wednesday a protest from resident and community activist Kim Trueheart on an agenda item she called “foul” and “awful.”

Trueheart, who said she has been coming to the Board of Estimates’ weekly meetings since August, filed a protest to the $20,800 request by the Department of Recreation and Parks for a driver for agency administrators and staff.

“I think in an austere budget crunch, justifying a wasteful, potentially abusive measure like that, in light of closing recreation centers, is completely inappropriate and lacks fiscal discipline,” she said.

Though Trueheart said she does not expect the board to reject the item, she is looking for the chance to have her concern heard.

For at least the last two years, the BOE has approved a driver for the agency, according to the board’s online minutes.

“It’s a new year,” Trueheart said. “If we’re really pinching pennies, then this kind of decision making is in really poor taste.”

Gwendolyn Chambers, a spokeswoman for the Department of Recreation and Parks, said the agency does not comment on personnel matters.