Grim reviews from outside auditors and “gimmickry” in D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty’s budget are posing a threat to the city’s fiscal independence, a D.C. Council member warned Tuesday.

“I’m not worried about Wall Street yet, but we’ve been told for years and years that we were climbing out of the morass,” Phil Mendelson, D-at large, told The Examiner. “But the auditors are saying it isn’t happening and there’s a lot of gimmicks in this year’s budgets. It’s beginning to resonate the same way it did 18 years ago, when D.C. was heading toward the control board.”