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.