Scott touts state wins for Baltimore vacants, redevelopment, public safety

Baltimore’s biggest immediate win from Annapolis was not a ribbon cutting or a speech. It was leverage, and money: a sustained $50 million annual commitment for the city’s vacants strategy, plus new authority to move faster on empty buildings, illegal dumping and improperly registered out-of-state cars.

Mayor Brandon M. Scott said the 2026 General Assembly gave City Hall a sharper set of tools for problems that show up every day in Baltimore’s neighborhoods. The package includes changes to judicial in rem foreclosure on vacant and abandoned properties, a Downtown RISE PILOT for certain redevelopment projects, higher fines for city ordinance violations, restored juvenile records access for MONSE, and a new enforcement path for out-of-state plates that should not be on Maryland roads. The city’s legislative statement came April 15, one day after the General Assembly adjourned.

The vacants money matters because Baltimore has been trying to turn abandoned properties from liabilities into buildable sites. State support for the city’s vacants strategy can be used alongside the Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Initiative, which funds acquisition, stabilization, demolition and other pre-development work aimed at green space, affordable housing and mixed-use development. The city also said judicial in rem foreclosure, which lets the Baltimore City Department of Housing & Community Development foreclose on liens when they exceed a property’s assessed value, can help move a vacant lot or building toward redevelopment. The change in notice requirements should make that tool harder to stall, but only if the city keeps filing cases and pushing them through court.

Downtown Baltimore also stands to benefit, but not for free. SB 756 and HB 1232 created the Downtown RISE PILOT framework for specified economic development projects in the downtown core. The state’s fiscal note says Baltimore City property tax revenues may decrease beginning in fiscal 2027 if the city enters those agreements, so the tradeoff is clear: the city can use lower taxes to lure investment, but it gives up some near-term revenue and has to prove the projects are worth it. Annual reporting to the City Council is built in, which should give residents a way to track which projects actually move.

On public safety, the most immediate dollars are operational. Moore’s budget support included $2.5 million for MONSE, $8 million for a replacement computer-aided dispatch system, and $500,000 for B’more for Healthy Babies. That dispatch money is aimed at a system Baltimore has struggled to trust after widely criticized delays and bug-ridden technology. MONSE also won a records-access change that would let it, the Mayor’s Office of Children and Family Success and the Mayor’s Office of African American Male Engagement see certain juvenile police and court records when they are delivering direct services, as long as an MOU is in place.

The enforcement pieces could show up faster on the street. The out-of-state-plate bill would let the MVA and local agencies take possession of certain plates after someone has been a Maryland resident for more than 60 days, a step Baltimore had been pressing for as it looks for stronger vehicle-registration enforcement. And the city’s fine increase, from a maximum of $1,000 to $5,000 for ordinance violations, is meant to give inspectors and prosecutors a stronger deterrent against illegal dumping and other repeat offenses. The promise now sits with City Hall and state agencies: use the tools, or let the wins stay on paper.