D.C. prioritizing spending of nearly $1B stimulus
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
March 18, 2009
The District government anticipates collecting nearly $1 billion through the federal stimulus package, city leaders said Tuesday, which includes more than $400 million that could be used to ease the city’s anticipated budget shortfalls.
One tangible effect of the expected $955 million in stimulus money, City Administrator Dan Tangherlini told the D.C. Council during a briefing, will be “a lessening of the impacts that they were going to see as a result of the financial retrenchment.” The funding, he said, would “soften the blow of a real precipitous decline in revenue for the city.”
“It’s not as good as it was,” Tangherlini said. “But it’s not as bad as it could be.”
The District is staring down a $900 million budget shortfall in fiscal 2010 and a nearly $1 billion gap in 2011. Mayor Adrian Fenty will release his proposed 2010 budget Friday.
Of the estimated D.C. stimulus take, as much as $409 million may be available for “budget relief,” Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi said. The remaining $540 million is to be allocated to specific programs — $123.5 million for highway infrastructure projects, for example, $800,000 to combat violence against women, $1.1 million to administer food stamps and $8.3 million to improve energy efficiency in low-income homes.
There are plans to use stimulus money to reconfigure the New York Avenue bridge, to enhance the Pennsylvania Avenue streetscape and to increase the safety of popular walking routes to schools, Tangherlini said. Billions more dollars will be available through competitive grants for transportation projects “of regional and national importance,” Tangherlini added, to improve high-speed Internet access for low-income neighborhoods, to purchase and improve vacant properties, and to hire more police. The District is preparing its grant requests.
Council members urged caution. Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr. said the city should use its sparse resources to achieve “meaningful outcomes” to stabilize communities and bolster youth and senior programs. Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells warned of expecting too much.
“It’s becoming the fund of all things to all people,” Wells said of the stimulus. “As we put teeth on this and really show where the funds are going to be spent and what limitations there are, I think that will be very good for the community.”
