On Monday, the City Council approved the Ordinance of Estimates for Fiscal Year 2012. The budget closed a $60 million deficit while fully funding the City's obligation to public schools. The budget also provides funding to hire 300 new police officers and increase street repair, blight elimination, and job investments--without raising any taxes. I want to thank Council President Bernard "Jack" Young and members of the City Council for their support. No one can overcome these budgetary challenges alone. It is about teamwork and coming together--doing what's right for Baltimore during tough times.

Together, we are making fiscal responsibility a new hallmark of City Government, implementing tough reforms, and making Baltimore one of a very few major American cities to use the Outcome Budgeting process to demand better results. Through sacrifice and smart budgeting, City Government is tightening its belt and doing more with less.

We started the budget process first by cutting the Mayor's office by 19% over the past two years and by cutting central administrative costs across city agencies by 10% this year alone. This is a tough budget with no new taxes. But, it is also a smart budget plan, because we are investing our resources into clear priorities to achieve the results we want for Baltimore.

• We are fully funding our City Career Centers to help citizens get prepared and trained to find employment.
• We are increasing funding for the Emerging Technology Center (ETC) to support new companies creating jobs for Baltimore's future.
• Despite the expiration of stimulus funding that supported summer job placements in previous years, YouthWorks will employ over 5000 young people this summer--roughly the same number of youth as those who worked last year.
• The Fiscal 2012 budget includes over $389 million in operating and capital support for programs that directly serve children and youth. In the coming days, we will release a new document called the Children's Budget, which details these investments and the strategies we are supporting to improve the lives of children. 

By making tough decisions today, we are laying a strong fiscal foundation to ensure that Baltimore's best days are ahead. This commitment to fiscal responsibility was rewarded this week when both Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service affirmed the City of Baltimore's bond rating. Standard & Poor's expressed optimism in the City's fiscal policies and economic development efforts noting a "trend of economic expansion" and specifically highlighted efforts to rehabilitate vacant and blighted properties through the Vacants to Value program.