The D.C. Council approved a $5.8 billion operating budget Wednesday that did not include a proposal by Mayor Vincent Gray to raise the income tax rate on the wealthy. The unanimous vote on the budget was a big victory for Council Chairman Kwame Brown, who stitched together a budget proposal that backed up his campaign promise to not raise the income tax rate and found dollars for key human services programs the mayor had proposed to cut. Some of those programs, like one that helps low-income earners pay the rent, will have to wait until dollars become available through an expected jump in a revenue projection that comes out next month. Brown successfully held off an effort to bring back the mayor’s tax increase on households earning $200,000 or more when the measure was defeated in an 8-5 vote.
“Clearly it was a Kwame Brown budget that was passed,” newly elected at-large Councilman Vincent Orange said after the vote. Orange ran against Brown for council chairman last summer. Was Wednesday a win for Brown? “Absolutely,” Orange said.
| Wish list |
| Council’s priorities for spending dollars expected from increase in projected revenue: |
| 1) $10.8 million to hire police officers; estimated to bring the force to about 3,900 by September 2012 |
| 2) $1.6 million to putting the homeless in permanent housing |
| 3) $12 million for rent supplements |
| 4) $5.5 million to the Department of Mental Health |
| 5) $316,000 to keep Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library open on Sundays |
Brown offset the mayor’s proposed income tax increase in part by implementing a tax on out-of-state municipal bonds. The tax is expected to raise about $13 million. Brown’s proposal called for applying some of the cash from the expected extra revenue to repealing the municipal bonds tax, but Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells was able to maneuver a close vote to potentially make it permanent.
“It can only be right for those making sacrifices now to help those who need it that when new revenue comes in that they have the opportunity to be paid,” Brown said before losing the 7-6 vote making the bond tax permanent.
That battle isn’t over. The council’s final vote on the portion of the budget that dictates policies like the bond tax isn’t until June 7. Brown said he’ll be looking for the vote to get the repeal back in the budget.
