D.C. Council committee rejects camera money, E-911 fee hike
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
May 2, 2008
WASHINGTON — A D.C. Council committee on Thursday stripped Mayor Adrian Fenty’s 2009 budget of nearly $900,000 slated for the city’s new closed-circuit camera program, an initiative the panel said was started prematurely.
The five-member public safety and judiciary committee, chaired by Councilman Phil Mendelson, also erased an increase of a fee levied on phone lines and directed Fenty to reduce recently raised ambulance fees. The recommendations will be taken up by the full council May 13.
The panel, without deliberation, eliminated $886,000 from the D.C. homeland security budget for the consolidation of about 5,200 closed-circuit television cameras into a single network. Fenty’s Video Interoperability for Public Safety program, which has raised alarms among privacy activists, was launched this week.
"There has been no thought on what, if any, restrictions will govern the expanded system," Mendelson’s committee wrote in its report. "The executive should fully develop the program before it seeks funding."
The cut in local funds, if left in place by the full council, could leave the program in limbo. Supporters say the initiative will greatly improve the city’s ability to fight crime and monitor potentially dangerous situations.
"The budget my administration submitted to council funded essential front-line public safety positions and programs so that we can better protect our citizens," Fenty said in a statement. "I will work with the council to ensure that these critical programs remain intact."
Also from the budget markup, the council for the fifth straight year appears poised to kill a proposed increase to the E-911 fee, a monthly tax on every D.C. phone line. The mayor’s suggested increase, from 76 cents to 99 cents, was expected to raise $3.8 million, much of which was slated for mobile data computers and GPS devices for emergency vehicles.
The committee shifted $1.7 million from salary vacancies to make up for roughly half the loss.
The panel further agreed that Fenty should lower recently raised fees for ambulance rides. The increases, double the old fees, were implemented March 21 and are expected to generate $7.2 million. Reducing the charges, which the committee deemed "unjustifiably high," will allow the city to recover its costs "but in a less painful way," Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh said.
mneibauer@dcexaminer.com
