D.C. Council members have collectively suggested adding $350 million in spending to the mayor’s $5.5 billion operating budget proposal. The cash to do all that isn’t there, and so it’s up to council Chairman Kwame Brown to weigh their wishes as he constructs a budget proposal around the seven votes he’ll need to get it passed.
Key among the council’s suggestions is a proposal to add $11 million to Mayor Vincent Gray’s budget proposal to raise the total number of sworn police officers to about 3,900 by September 2012, and finding the $19 million needed to maintain spending on homeless services at this year’s level.
The suggestions were the focus of an hours-long council roundtable on Monday where debate grew nasty.
“I’ll give you this, you know something about irresponsible budgeting,” at-large Councilman David Catania said to Ward 8 Councilman and former Mayor Marion Barry during a heated argument over suggested cuts to Gray’s proposed tax increases.
At another point, Barry called Ward 7 Councilwoman Yvette Alexander a “damn liar” after she suggested her ward had more unpaved alleys than his.
Several of the proposed spending measures rely on increasing revenue estimates, as do suggestions to reduce tax and rate increases proposed by Gray. Next month’s revenue projection could add anywhere from $20 million to $90 million to the budget, council members said Monday.
Brown suggested that the budget should break down any revenue increase into three parts, with 50 percent going to replenish the city’s diminished savings account, 25 percent toward spending on the homeless and other human services, and the remaining 25 percent toward offsetting tax increases.
The city’s $100 million budget for homeless services has taken a $20 million hit because federal stimulus dollars available in recent years have dried up. Gray has proposed adding $1 million in local dollars, cutting the gap to $19 million. Advocates for the homeless say that if the dollars aren’t found, about 300 families could be kicked out of shelters by the summer of 2012.
