City Comptroller Joan Pratt said her position regarding a report by the Abell Foundation on the “opacity” of city contracts, especially regarding cost overruns, was mischaracterized by a Brew story.

She said she is committed to transparency in city government, but that the report’s recommendations for more public information by the Board of Estimates, which she serves as secretary, are misplaced.

She said an earlier Brew story had “twisted” her comments.

“The Board of Estimates doesn’t track how a project is coming; the agency does that. What we do: the contracts are awarded and when there are overruns, there are explanations and we are briefed about those overruns for a variety of things. It could be because of weather, it could be because the design was incorrect.

“The Board of Estimates is not the place for that [disclosure]. That is with the agency. And if they [the public] want that information, they can get it through the MPIA [Maryland Public Information Act].”

“But,” she continued, “I didn’t reject the call for more transparency.”

Asked why she rejected all of the recommendations by the Abell report, Pratt said, “I don’t have to agree with their recommendations.”

Pratt said the report’s author, Cristie Cole, “said the Board of Estimates minutes were robust. And she got more information from the minutes than any other place. If you read the report, that’s what it says.”

The report says that Cole believed the BOE minutes were “robust enough to begin to answer our questions about contract overruns,” but noted that “understanding BOE proceedings can be almost impossible for anyone not intimately familiar with the workings of city government.”

Cole called on the board to create “scorecards” for contractors, list campaign contributions by companies receiving additional city funds through “EWOs” (extra work orders) awarded by the board, and provide detailed information as to why contractors should receive those additional funds.

Pratt said such information is the responsibility of the agencies to provide, not the Board of Estimates.

She added that data on campaign contributions to the three elected members of the board (Pratt, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young) are available through the Maryland Board of Elections.

[DISCLOSURE: The Brew receives grant funding from The Abell Foundation.]