Residents in crime-ridden Baltimore City, controlled by leftists, are demanding answers after Mayor Brandon Scott received a new taxpayer-funded luxury SUV outfitted with almost every bell and whistle, including fancy lights, sirens, and a security microphone. 

Fox Baltimore reports that Mayor Scott's new city-issued Jeep Grand Wagoneer costs in excess of $163,000, which includes $65,000 in upgrades.

"Not the taxpayers' money! If he wants it for himself, yeah. But not with our money," Federal Hill resident Christian Heath told the local media outlet. 

Heath noted, "Our money should be for the city, the schools, the kids. Just to ride around? We don't have cars like that."

Yet, as we've learned over the years from Fox Baltimore's Chris Papst, the city's epic mismanagement and endless scandals, especially within its imploded public school system, show that throwing more money at education doesn't translate into success in math or writing.

In fact, taxpayer funds are simply lining the pockets of Democrats and their unions. The result: multiple generations of young people who never receive a proper education, their futures stolen from them. 

Fox Baltimore spoke with other residents who agreed that the mayor should have a secure vehicle but questioned the cost of the luxury SUV. 

The mayor driving around in a luxury SUV while the city experiences a population collapse to 100-year lows, continued violent crime, an exodus of businesses, opioid crisis, police shortage, backfiring criminal and social justice reform, an exodus of companies, and mounting financial woes is terrible optics for City Hall Democrats, who have navigated the city over the course of decades right into the ground. 

In recent months, Mayor Scott signed off on the city's largest budget to date, totaling $4.6 billion. This new budget is double the size of what the city operated two decades ago, despite a population decline of more than 60,000 residents during that time. Baltimore's per capita spending now exceeds $7,600 per resident, surpassing cities like Boston, Atlanta, Detroit, and Chicago. This spending even outpaces the combined spending of Las Vegas and Los Angeles. 

Taxpayer advocate David Williams expressed serious concerns over the city's financial priorities. 

"Unfortunately, this is not surprising. You look at a city that's spending billions a year on education and the system isn't getting any better," Williams said, adding, "Right now Baltimore officials think spending money is the goal. Well, it isn't."

Residents might start asking a very simple question: Does Mayor Scott serve the people of Baltimore City or the interests of globalist George Soros? 

Meanwhile, Maryland's leftist Gov. Wes Moore was recently spotted half-naked on mega leftist George Clooney's luxury yacht in Italy.

Are Maryland Democrats even serving the best interests of their constituents, or pandering to billionaire liberal elites and unhinged leftists in Hollywood?