Mobtown Beat
Audit Failures by the Numbers
Baltimore's financial reports MIA
Published: October 10, 2012
State auditors review city and county audits to see if everything is on the square. It’s not. Released on Oct. 2, the most recent audit of audits found that—surprise—Baltimore doesn’t have auditable books at all. The city’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for fiscal 2011 is still MIA, making Baltimore City one of only five jurisdictions in the whole state (out of 184) that failed to supply the most basic item the state auditors needed. The other towns on the list were of a decidedly different order of magnitude. Hyattsville, for example, has a population of 17,718—half a stadium’s worth. Two others, Forest Heights and Fairmount Heights in Prince George’s County, are under 2,500 and 1,500, respectively. You could fit those two towns inside the Meyerhoff, though not at the same time. And Deer Park, the final city failing to assemble its budget more than a year after it was due, has a population of 399. You could fit everyone in that town inside the Ottobar and still have room left over for Baltimore City’s audit staff. But then, who’s counting?
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