Emily Opilo

Baltimore

City Hall Reporter at The Baltimore Banner

City Hall reporter for @baltimorebanner. Former @baltimoresun. Cuse alum and PA native.

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Articles

Baltimore’s top YIMBYs want to erase zoning rules blocking more housing

2 days ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Emily Opilo |Hallie Miller

Baltimore leaders introduced a package of bills Monday aimed at making homes easier to build and rehabilitate as the city undertakes an ambitious effort to turn the tide on its thousands of vacant homes. The legislation, engineered by several members of the City Council and endorsed by Mayor Brandon Scott, would roll back restrictions on development density, allow people to build closer to their property lines, and do away with requirements for off-street parking if approved.
Baltimore City community groups want a bigger slice of city’s opioid fund

6 days ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Alissa Zhu |Emily Opilo

In the past year, the initial winnings from Baltimore’s legal fight against opioid manufacturers and distributors — more than $180 million so far — have started to flow into city coffers, while leaders have drafted plans and assembled boards in the name of community engagement and transparency.
Federal job cuts cost Baltimore revenue, punching $5.9M hole in budget

1 week ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Emily Opilo

The trickle down effects of the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce have arrived on Baltimore’s doorstep. After weeks of warnings that the city may come up short on income tax revenue as a result of layoffs to federal employees, city budget officials announced Wednesday that Baltimore now expects to receive $5.9 million less in income tax for the coming fiscal year. Further reductions, officials said, could be coming.
Ivan Bates criticized Marilyn Mosby’s travel. He’s disregarding rules she inspired.

1 week ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Emily Opilo

In the ballroom of the Hilton Salt Lake City Center, Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates was settling in for a second day of panel discussions with prosecutors and law enforcement officials from across the country. Fourteen-hundred miles away, a Baltimore Police officer on Bates’ security detail, was already on the ground, scoping out conditions for the state’s attorney’s next stop: Chicago. Three days of meetings with other out-of-town prosecutors would follow.
Baltimore's Camp Small was warned of hazards before massive blaze

2 weeks ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Emily Opilo |Adam Willis

Months before a massive fire swept through Baltimore’s Camp Small last year, a blaze that took days and multiple fire companies to extinguish, Baltimore was warned by state inspectors of a fire hazard on the site as well as conditions that could hamper an emergency response.
Baltimore sues Ahavas Chaim, group that used COVID-19 aid to buy property

2 weeks ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Emily Opilo

Baltimore is suing a recipient of some of its federal coronavirus relief funds, alleging that the group used money intended to provide rental assistance and mental health resources to instead buy property. The city is seeking $234,813 from Ahavas Chaim, a Baltimore-based nonprofit that operates a drop-in center for Jewish teens in the Cross Country neighborhood.
A Baltimore property tax cut could come with a higher trash bill

3 weeks ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Emily Opilo |Hallie Miller

City government officials are considering charging a solid waste collection fee to Baltimore homeowners, one of several tactics aimed at increasing revenues as Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration pledges to reduce the property tax rate. Looking to grow investment in Baltimore and satisfy calls to lessen city households’ tax burden, officials hope to trim back the rate to less than $2 for every $100 of assessed value over a phased-in period.
State of the City: 3 promises Mayor Brandon Scott made to Baltimore

3 weeks ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Emily Opilo

The campaign may be over, but Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott is still making promises. In his first State of the City address since winning a second term in office, the Democratic mayor expanded his focus Monday, making pledges to tackle issues that have long dissuaded some Marylanders from making Baltimore their home.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott to propose property tax cut by 2028

3 weeks ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Emily Opilo

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott will announce his plan to lower the city’s property tax rate on homeowners to under $2 by 2028 in his State of the City address on Monday. The proposed reduction, which was released as part of a preview of the upcoming speech, would be the city’s first property tax relief since Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake introduced the 20 cents by 2020 tax credit program. City property owners currently pay a levy of $2.248 for every $100 of assessed value.
Sinkhole fix was supposed to cost $10M. Now it’s $30M—and counting

1 month ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Giacomo Bologna |Emily Opilo

The subterranean collapse of a 19th-century stormwater drain near Lake Montebello created a sinkhole that is also sucking in more and more taxpayer money. What was once predicted to be a $10 million fix has ballooned to at least $30 million, according to financial documents from the city. And that cost could keep rising.