Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has vetoed a bill that would make the city’s elected officials eligible for a pension after eight years instead of the current 12.
The veto, only Scott’s second since taking office, was delivered Wednesday, shortly after the city’s Board of Ethics implored him via a letter to delay making a decision on the matter until the board could issue an ethics opinion. The board cited a possible violation of the city’s ethics ordinance by the members of the City Council.
理事会上周以8-5的投票通过了该立法，在考虑不到一个月的时间后，两名成员弃权。该法案的赞助商尼克·莫斯比（Nick Mosby）认为，问题K的选举日通道是必要的，问题K是一项宪章修正案，该修正案将为该市市长，审计员和市议会建立任期限制。
Question K,几乎全部资助by a $805,000 investment from David Smith, chairman of Hunt Valley-based Sinclair Broadcast Group, was approved by 72% of the city’s voters on Nov. 8. The charter amendment will limit officials to two four-year terms in each of the affected offices, but is not effective until 2024.
Council’s legislation, however, would affect sitting officials, making them pension-eligible in four fewer years.
The council now will need to decide whether to override or sustain the veto, but will need 10 votes to do so.
In a letter Wednesday to Mosby, Scott said maintaining public trust is “paramount to my ability to perform my duties of my office.” The mayor said he could not in good conscience sign the bill.
“Given the potential for ethical issues with the bill and the need for adequate time to perform due diligence and to provide recommendations for true cost-effective alternatives to the legislation, it is my duty to consider the advice of our expert agency heads and make the decision that is in the city’s best interest,” Scott wrote.
Mosby’s office did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
城市道德官员说，他们对现任办公室持有人的出现感到困扰，以根据自己的退休福利做出决定。伦理委员会主席斯蒂芬·福格曼（Stephan Fogleman）在周一给斯科特（Scott）的信中写道，此举可能破坏或已经破坏了公众对市政府的信心。
Fogleman写道：“伦理委员会担心现任理事会在任期内不可能投票赞成修正案，而不会出现利益冲突。”
董事会指出，巴尔的摩的道德法要求公职人员剥夺自己的利益决定的资格。
Fogleman周三表示，董事会仍然打算就养老金问题提供全面的正式咨询意见，以指导未来的民选官员。
该理事会在投票之前被警告，改变自己的利益将是非常规的举动。
David Randall, executive director of the Baltimore Employees’ and Elected Officials’ Retirement Systems, wrote in a letter to the council that “while it may not be unconstitutional, it is highly unusual for elected officials to enhance their benefits while in term.”
City finance and retirement officials pleaded with the council to wait to pass the bill, arguing a full financial analysis should be performed first. The city’s elected official pension plan, which is currently fully funded, paid out about $1.5 million in fiscal year 2022 to 31 retired officials and beneficiaries.
Two members of the City Council, Eric Costello and Mark Conway, abstained from the council’s final vote on the measure last week. Costellonoted during an earlier votethat he would immediately become vested were the bill to pass and said voting on the measure would be “inappropriate.”
What will the council do?
Scott’s decision, which came well before a January deadline set by the city charter, marks the start of a window for the City Council to consider whether to override or sustain the veto. The city’s charter requires the council to read Scott’s veto into the record. After a five-day wait, the group has 20 days to reconsider the bill or, if no meeting is held during that 20-day period, its first regularly scheduled meeting.
Maryland Policy & Politics
The council’s next meeting is Dec. 5. Ten members are required to override a veto — a margin greater than what the bill passed with.
否决权是斯科特（Scott）上任以来的第二次。他的第一个struck down a bill打算在支付保证金时为房客提供更多选择。该法案的批评者包括众多住房倡导组织，认为它将创建一个捕食租户的系统。理事会没有试图覆盖否决权。
Baltimore’s retirement plan for elected officials has two tiers of benefits: one for officials who were elected before December 2016 and one for those elected after. Officials elected before 2016 receive 2.5% multiplied by their years of service and their annual salary of their highest position held.
Officials elected after 2016 receive a pension based on the same formula, but it is capped at 60% of their compensation at the time of retirement.
Currently, the mayor is paid $189,044. Both the comptroller and City Council president make $131,798. Council members are paid $73,966.
There are also built-in increases. After two years of receiving benefits, officials elected before 2016 receive an increase tied to the current compensation of the position held before they retired. An official who retired as the city’s mayor, for example, would receive an increase at the same rate as the current mayor.
Officials elected after 2016 are capped at a 1.5% increase until age 65 and 2% thereafter, but they have to wait only one year for the increases to begin.