The District would extend the city’s sales tax to include sodas and medical marijuana but would not increase downtown parking meter fees to $3 an hour, according to a draft budget from D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray.
The D.C. Council is expected to give preliminary approval to the budget Wednesday. Gray’s draft budget is the product of informal meetings with the council last week to come to general agreements on some of the thornier issues.
But last-minute changes are common and council staff expect several items to be debated late in the night Tuesday and early Wednesday, including the expansion of the city’s 6 percent sales tax to include soft drinks and a proposal to raise income taxes of the city’s wealthy.
What’s not expected to change is the council’s rejection of Mayor Adrian Fenty’s proposal to raise parking meter rates, including charging $3 an hour — or 25 cents for five minutes — for so called “premium demand” spots in downtown and Georgetown. Fenty proposed them as part of a way to bridge a more than $500 million budget gap.
But the proposed meter rate increases created an uproar from restaurant owners and Fenty quickly said the $3-an-hour rates were negotiable.
John Townsend, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said the rejection of the fees was a “victory” for city residents.
“You cannot nickel and dime people to death with fees,” Townsend said. “I think the council got the message.”
The council last week signaled that it would not support a specific tax on sugary drinks. The proposal, by Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh, was meant to fund a recently approved initiative that requires the city’s public schools serve healthier food.
Instead, the council is considering applying the city’s 6 percent sales tax to sodas to pay for the school initiative, which is designed to combat child obesity.
The beverage industry lobbied hard against Cheh’s proposal and is also opposed to expanding the sales tax.
Gray’s budget made no mention of raising the income tax rate on wealthier District residents. But several other council members have advocated idea and could push for the increases on Wednesday.
