Baltimore inspector's general report finds mayor's office violated city purchasing card policies
A new report from the Baltimore City inspector general found that the mayor's office repeatedly violated policies related to city purchasing cards, known as "p-cards."
Those purchasing cards are used for needed expenses.
The inspector general's investigation found that from July 2022 to November 2025, the mayor's office did not submit required waivers for more than 300 transactions, which added up to more than $160,000.
More than half of those purchases were for food or catering.
The investigation also found the mayor's office spent more than $50,000 in taxpayer money on food or beverages during Baltimore Ravens and Baltimore Orioles games.
"Witnesses stated the food and beverage is purchased when the Mayor or Mayor's Office staff attend games in the Mayoral Suite at both stadiums," the report stated. "Witnesses claimed that this has been a practice of prior mayoral administrations."
The mayor's office responded, saying the inspector general found "no deliberate misuse of p-cards" and members of the mayor's office who made the purchases were acting in good faith while doing their jobs.
Baltimore Inspector General's Office sues city
Earlier this week, WJZ learned that the Baltimore Inspector General's Office is suing the city over access to information and the power to issue and enforce subpoenas.
Inspector General Isabel Cumming previously said she was blocked from seeing documents that are essential to her job.
The lawsuit is an attempt to stop Baltimore from interfering with the inspector general investigations.
Cumming said the the city refused to comply with a subpoena by trying to recategorize it as a request under the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA), per advice from an attorney with the Maryland Office of the Attorney General (OAG).
In response to the subpoenas, the lawsuit alleges that the city presented the OIG with heavily redacted documents.
The lawsuit claims that the Baltimore City Charter authorizes the Office of the Inspector General to issue and enforce subpoenas "in any court of competent jurisdiction."
The lawsuit says the city's actions "hampered the OIG's ability to monitor its confidential investigative database."
Cumming claims to have had had access to information from city offices since 2018. However, she said in June 2025, the city suddenly switched from its "longstanding practice of cooperating with the OIG, instead asserting for the very first time in OIG history that subpoenas issued by the OIG are subject to the MPIA."
Cumming said she filed the lawsuit to "require the city to do what it has done since I took office - provide the OIG with the information it needs to ensure taxpayer dollars aren't being wasted by government officials."
