Mayor Adrian Fenty has quietly directed 40 D.C. agencies, including the Metropolitan Police Department, to chop more than $35 million from their budgets in the face of a growing 2009 deficit.
$1.1 million» Department of the Environment:
$1 million
An executive order signed June 12 set lower spending limits for most departments under Fenty’s purview. The mayor spared fire and emergency medical services, health, child and family services, the public schools, and youth rehabilitation services.
Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi on Monday slashed revenue projections for this year by $190 million, bringing the total 2009 gap to $338 million. The mayor and the D.C. Council hope to close the 2009 shortfall, in addition to an estimated $150 million deficit in 2010, by mid-July. The solution is likely to include a raid on the city’s rainy day fund, as Gandhi has suggested.
The cuts were ordered “to prepare for the additional revenue shortfall,” Fenty wrote in his order.
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education took the biggest hit, losing $4.4 million. The technology office budget was reduced by $4.3 million, the police department by $3.4 million and property management by $3.3 million.
It is unknown whether the police cut will affect public safety services going into the traditionally high-crime summer. Polices spokeswoman Traci Hughes did not return requests for comment.
Nor is it clear why the mayor would cut $782,072 from the Department of Employment Services, when the agency is already $23 million short for the summer youth jobs program.
Fenty’s order authorizes City Administrator Neil Albert to release some funding “in exceptional cases” and only after a request is “demonstrated to be critical.”
Other agencies taking a hit include the Department of Mental Health ($2.6 million), the Department of Public Works ($1.6 million), and the Department of Parks and Recreation ($1 million).
Ward 5 D.C. Councilman Harry Thomas Jr., who has oversight of parks and recreation, said the mayor likely cut the DPR budget because the department had a positive balance as of early June. But the agency, Thomas said, spends most of its money in the summer.
“I would probably advise against the cut and try to find the dollars to enhance those programs,” he said. “This is our prime time for parks and rec. This is our peak.”
