Board of Estimates

The Baltimore City Board of Estimates consists of five voting members: The Mayor, the President of the City Council, the Comptroller, the City Solicitor, and the Director of Public Works. The President of the City Council serves as President of the Board of Estimates, and the City Comptroller serves as Secretary to the Board.

Pursuant to the Charter of Baltimore City, Article VI Section 2, the Board of Estimates formulates and executes the fiscal policy of the City.

From time to time, in furtherance of these duties, the Board promulgates rules, regulations, and conducts hearings. Each year, the Board adopts an Ordinance of Estimates and presents it to the City Council. Prior to the adoption of the Ordinance of Estimates, the Board makes public the Director of Finance's recommended operating budget and the Planning Commission's recommended capital budget and long-range capital improvement program.

The Board of Estimates is also responsible for awarding contracts and supervising all purchasing by the City. All bids made to the City in response to the formal advertising procedures are opened by the Board of Estimates, which awards the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder.

Board Agendas

To download the June 9th agenda.

The President's Memorandum for each Board of Estimates meeting is posted no later than the close of business the preceding Monday.

Abstentions

Board members must submit a dated memo to the Comptroller’s Office the day before the scheduled Board meeting date. The memo will note the page number of the member’s abstention, the item, and the reason for the abstention. 

All abstention memos.

Meeting Schedule

The Board of Estimates meets each Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. and at 12:00 noon (12:00 noon for scheduled bid openings only). All Board meetings are live-streamed online at charmtvbaltimore.com.

For bid openings only, residents and members of the press can watch live on CharmTV’s cable channel (Channel 25/1085HD); charmtvbaltimore.com/watch-live or listen in at (443) 984-1696 (ACCESS CODE: 0842939).

Board Recess Dates

The Board of Estimates is scheduled to be in recess at 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon on the following Wednesdays:

  1. May 26, 2021
  2. July 07, 2021
  3. August 18, 2021
  4. September 08, 2021
  5. October 13, 2021
  6. December 29, 2021

Bids will not be opened on dates the Board of Estimates does not convene.

Meeting Summaries

All Board of Estimates meeting actions are compiled into a summary document. For meeting notes from 2020 or before, please visit our minutes archive.

In recognition of the availability of verbatim, archived, publicly accessible video and audio recordings of Board of Estimates meetings, the Comptroller's Office discontinued the practice of typing word-for-word transcripts of Board of Estimates meetings as of January 1, 2021. Minutes are now maintained in a summary format that complies with the requirements of the Maryland Open Meetings Act and are posted online within ten days of each Board meeting.

All video recordings of Board of Estimates meetings can be found on CharmTV's Citizen Hub.