The Baltimore Sun
by Luke Broadwater
February 16, 2013

Why did Baltimore need to pay outside consultants half a million dollars for a report that says the city's financial future is grim?

Some city residents wondered as much after Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called for a new trash collection fee, a smaller city workforce and cuts to employee benefits as a way to deal with the projected $750 million, 10-year budget shortfall the consultants projected. For a city as financially strapped as Baltimore, couldn't that work have been done in house?

The answer, according to city budget director Andrew Kleine, is no.

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/marylan...0,5775814.story

I can make recommendations for less cost to the city. Cut headcount, cut pay, cut benefits and cut pensions, outsource. Cut services to basic civic items like streets, sewage, lights, schools, police, fire. Eliminate equal employment councils, cut travel and lodging to "train" government hack employees. Cut waste and fraud.

Also, eliminate outside consultants, and anybody that recommends hiring them.