The District’s chief financial officer has recommended the D.C. Council not apply dollars expected to come from next month’s revenue projection to the budget.
Council Chairman Kwame Brown has indicated that he will apply any cash that comes in from an expected jump in revenue for the fiscal year 2012 to offset tax increases and fund social services that would otherwise be cut. The council is set to cast its first vote on the 2012 budget on Wednesday. The fiscal year starts Oct. 1.
But in a letter to Brown and Mayor Vince Gray, CFO Natwar Gandhi basically told them not to count their chickens before they hatch.
“This legislation could limit the District’s budget flexibility in an uncertain economic environment,” Gandhi wrote. The city’s and the nation’s economy continues to grow, Gandhi writes, but it may not be sustained.
Instead, the CFO recommends waiting until the September revenue projection and amending the budget if needed at that time.
Gandhi’s recommendation puts Brown’s likely budget proposal on seriously shaky ground. It may now be a tough sell to other council members who already worried about an expected push from Brown to tax out-of-state municipal bonds. Council sources say Brown has indicated he will ask lawmakers to approve the measure on the basis that it will sunset when new dollars become available from June’s revenue projection. With Gandhi saying that’s a bad idea, he may also have left Brown with little room to maneuver.
