After a spring session marked by scandals and haggling over tight funds, the D.C. Council will try to turn a corner when it resumes Tuesday with a slew of ethics and accountability reform bills and an $89 million budget surplus. The council got a small gift last week when the city’s chief financial officer, Natwar Ghandi, revised the 2011 revenue estimates to include an additional $89.1 million. Much of it is expected to go into the city’s reserve fund, which officials have dipped into in recent years to avoid drastic budget cuts.
But the extra money will also play into an ongoing argument over a decision earlier this year to tax the city’s out-of-state municipal bond holders. The bond levy was pushed through by Chairman Kwame Brown as an alternative to Mayor Vincent Gray’s proposed income tax hike on residents earning more than $200,000 annually. Those opposed to any tax increase will push for using some of the extra money to cover an exemption for those who already bought bonds thinking they were tax-free.
“If we’re going to use that money for anything, that’s the only thing I think we should use it for,” said Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans.
Meanwhile, ethics reform will be a popular topic as the council attempts to clean up its image after a winter and spring that saw the U.S. attorney general launch investigations into Gray’s and Brown’s campaigns, and the D.C. Attorney General sue Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr. for taking public funds meant for kids.
Brown, whose 2008 campaign expenditures are being investigated, wants changes to how constituent service funds are used and has begun hawking his idea for broader financial disclosure rules for council staffers. However, his proposal would not make that additional information publicly available.
Others on the council, such as at-large Councilman Vincent Orange, Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser and Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells, are pushing for better accountability in campaign finance and fundraising.
Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh, head of a special committee that investigated Gray’s hiring practices after his election, is also introducing legislation targeting political appointments and salary caps as “a direct response to some of the things we found in the investigation,” she said.
Education reform will also be at the forefront of council activity as lawmakers try to address the quality of middle schools in the city’s lower-income neighborhoods. Wells will likely begin a push to repeal legislation the council passed last session that legalized Internet gambling, and Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham and Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry are both eyeing legislation that will help wean needy D.C. families off a federal temporary assistance program.
