D.C. Council hears just how much budget cuts will hurt

More than 100 representatives from police unions, food banks, employment programs and other nonprofits packed into a hearing room to beg D.C. Council members to reconsider Mayor Adrian Fenty's proposal to slash their share of the 2010 budget.

But council members reiterated the cuts were inevitable.

"By 2011, we'll have a revenue shortfall of $800 million which, unchecked, could sink the city," Council Chairman Vincent Gray said Friday. "At the end of the day even after you make your passionate plea, we're still faced with the same problem."

Councilman Michael Brown said D.C.'s deficit will stretch into 2013 at the least. "Right now we are in a storm. All is not good," he said.

So the various agencies and organizations fought for themselves in a day-long tug-of-war over the District's imperiled grant money.

Fenty's proposal would cut retirement benefits for all city workers including firefighters and police, said Kris Baumann, chairman of the District's police union. Already, D.C.'s benefits are not competitive enough to retain top officers, he said.

"People don't want to work here," Baumann said, citing high turnover of officers seeking better benefits and adding that the force is already 200 cops short. "This is how downward spirals start," he said.

Marina Stresnewski from D.C. Jobs fought for $20 million of her agency's dollars that was transferred to Fenty's summer youth employment program. "The [youth] program doesn't solve unemployment in the region," she said. Sure, the program reduces juvenile crime rates, she said. But D.C. Jobs meets a more pressing need in the District -- where unemployment is nearly 11 percent -- she argued.

"The poor and the seniors and the youth should not take the brunt of the budget," said Councilman Marion Barry. Half the room nodded in agreement, dozens of them senior citizens wearing bright red AARP T-shirts.

Board of Education President Lisa Raymond asked the Council to restore the budget they approved in May.

But Councilman Jack Evans said public education is burning too large a hole in the District's pocket. Public education grew the budget by $712 million since 2006, he said.

"If you want your money back, where do you suggest we get it?" Evans asked. "You are going to have to take it from someone else...The alternative is a disaster for the city."

Councilman Jim Graham repeatedly pushed for raising taxes on the wealthy. Graham argued D.C. should raise the tax rate 0.4 percent on residents making an annual income of more than $500,000 -- which would generate a total of $16 million to $18 million.

"That's equitable, that's fair," Barry said in response. "That's as American as apple pie."