Baltimore City Council votes to cut $1.7M from BOPA's budget

BALTIMORE -- Big cuts are coming to the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts.

The Baltimore City Council just voted to remove $1.7 million dollars from the organization's 2024 budget.

"We've made a three-quarter cut to their allocation for this year," Baltimore City Council member Eric Costello said. "Our hope is that BOPA can make demonstrable progress."

BOPA is a quasi-governmental agency that hosts several of the city's key arts programs.

It's been the subject of scrutiny recently due to issues with programming and leadership.

In January, the organization came under fire after then-CEO Donna Drew Sawyer announced the city's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade would not be held.

The city ended up hosting the parade and Mayor Brandon Scott called for Sawyer to resign. She eventually did.

On Wednesday, City Councilmember Eric Costello told WJZ the council decided to cut BOPA's funding because of several issues with the way the organization is run.   

"There are very severe governance issues at BOPA which need to be rectified and rectified immediately," Costello said.

Costello said some of those issues included the fact that the agency does not post meeting minutes online and did not properly discuss the severance package given to the outgoing CEO.

He reassured the public that the cuts will not impact arts programs in the city or result in any BOPA staff members losing their jobs.

He said if BOPA can correct the problems before the end of September, then the council could vote to give some of the funding back.

BOPA's Board Chair and President Brian Lyles issued a statement about the cuts, saying the organization was dismayed by them.

The statement read, in part:

"BOPA fulfills its mission each and every day and the Board will work intently to allay any concerns about the stability or proper governance of the organization during this period of transition."

Councilmembers also said that Scott plans to form an arts commission soon to make recommendations on how the city will proceed with its relationship with BOPA.