BALTIMORE - In her first State of the City Address, Baltimore's Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she will reduce her passenger vehicle fleet by 37 percent as part of an overall plan to trim the city's $120 million budget deficit, according to the Mayor's Office.  

The city's $120 million deficit is equal to half the salaries of the Police Department, all of the Fire Department, or the combined general fund budgets of the Departments of Health, Recreation and Parks, Housing and Enoch Pratt Free Libraries, according to Mayor Rawlings-Blake.

"We will ask all of our city employees to do more with less and make new sacrifices in order to preserve core priorities and keep City government going. I will begin these tough choices by slashing costs within the Mayor's Office," she said.

The Mayor said she plans to cut her entire office's budget by 10 percent. She will also reduce her office's passenger vehicle fleet by 37 percent and reassign the vehicles to where they are needed in other agencies.

"Those of us who manage the public's dollars must recognize this simple truth - these dollars are not our personal play things, they come from and belong to the people," Mayor Rawlings-Blake said.