After a city audit found inadequate financial monitoring procedures, including a failure to track payments for the Safe Streets program, Baltimore’s Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) has committed to adopt adjustments. The audit was given to the Board of Estimates of Baltimore City by auditor Josh Pasch. According to FOX Baltimore, he discovered $257,322 disbursed over three years for violence interrupters working for non-profits without adequate verification of their daily operations.
The audit found three instances of duplicate payments totaling $290,357 to Safe Streets operators in fiscal years 2023 and 2024, among other noteworthy findings. According to WBALTV, six fake names were discovered in contracts during the audit, as disclosed by Pasch during the Board of Estimates meeting. According to Comptroller Bill Henry, MONSE has been outside of the regular audit schedule, which has sparked discussions about maybe adding the office to the list of biennial audits with adequate financing for the auditor’s team expansion.
Stefanie Mavronis, the Director of MONSE, said that a number of audit recommendations are currently being carried out. Mavronis said, “We want to make sure those daily logs are complete and moving forward,” but he also made it clear that the Safe Streets initiative uses other productivity metrics in addition to logs. However, MONSE’s transparency policies have come under scrutiny, primarily because Mavronis refused to publicly provide the employees’ identities, schedules, or timecards, promising careful examination but eschewing pledges of more thorough disclosure, as FOX Baltimore details.
Accordingly, the Inspector General’s report connected repeated payments to fictitious identities on contracts and forwarded the results to law enforcement for possible additional research. These made-up identities, like Lemur Jackson and Allen Iverson, served as stand-ins for open contract positions.According to WBALTV, Mavronis said that it is unacceptable to acknowledge the submission of anything fraudulent and to confirm that procedures have been modified to avoid such problems.One employee implicated in the disparities was fired as part of the actions taken in response to these discoveries.
As it responds to requests for improved oversight and internal controls, MONSE is attempting to restore community trust. They want to increase financial accountability and transparency by enhancing payroll reviews and confirming activity records. All reforms should be fully implemented by April 15, 2025, according to Mavronis’ presentation to the BOE.
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