Restoring Fiscal Discipline

In 2005, Martin O’Malley announced that Baltimore had produced a record $37.5 million budget surplus. Martin O’Malley’s dramatic reform of Baltimore’s government made this turnabout possible. He has cut taxes and made government more responsive. In fact, Martin O’Malley’s success in balancing budgets and increasing government efficiency has attracted leaders from across the globe to replicate his reforms.

According to Time magazine, Martin O’Malley’s “urban innovations – primarily CitiStat, a computerized score sheet intended to make key city agencies like public works, housing, transportation and police more accountable – have brought other curious mayors on pilgrimages to Baltimore.” Martin O’Malley’s reforms have restored fiscal discipline and have improved the City’s quality of life and made Baltimore a cleaner, healthier, more efficient city and a better place to raise a child.

• Martin O’Malley cut property taxes to the lowest level in 30 years.

• Martin O’Malley initiated Baltimore’s 311 “One Call to City Hall” system to better respond to citizen requests for services.

• Martin O’Malley implemented CitiStat, a “computerized score sheet” to improve performance, hold government more accountable and save Baltimore residents more than $350 million by cutting unnecessary overtime and reducing employee absenteeism by as much as 30 percent.

• Martin O’Malley more than quadrupled the City’s “Rainy Day” fund from less than $17 million to more than $65 million.

• Martin O’Malley rescued the Baltimore City Public School System from the brink of bankruptcy and forged a financial recovery plan to eliminate the School System’s $58 million deficit.

• Time Magazine says Martin O’Malley is One of the Country’s Top 5 Big City Mayors and his CitiStat accountability tool won Harvard University’s prestigious Innovations in American Government award.