D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray has cast himself as “Mr. Fiscally Responsible,” claiming to have reduced the size and cost of government while keeping the city within its approved budget. That’s all propaganda and sleight of hand. Consider this: Last December, Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi revised upward by $42.2 million revenue projections for Fiscal year 2012. Gray has submitted to the city council a supplemental budget that would consume that entire amount, plus another $2.5 million. That’s amounts to $45 million over the current $10 billion budget.
Staying within the budget means sticking with authorized appropriations — not sticking with a budget you keep expanding. Gray has never seen a taxpayer dollar he doesn’t want to spend.
Except for $318,000 to cover the Ward 5 special election, there’s little reason for snatching new revenues. Gray wants $9.4 million more for the Department of General Services — an entity that was supposed to produce savings by consolidating multiple agencies and functions.
Of the additional $25 million he wants for D.C. Public Schools, only $4.5 million is related to cuts in federal help. Another $12 million comes from a combination of cost overruns for a food services contract and anemic returns (predicted by experts) from a sales tax, created to fund the healthy food schools act.
When I spoke Friday with Eric Goulet, the mayor’s budget director, he defended the administration’s request. He also asserted that overspending under Gray has been “dramatically reduced” and is at its “lowest” in history. Further, he said, a large part of the problem results from “federal reductions.”
Where have Gray and Goulet been? It’s no secret federal officials have been cutting their spending, particularly aid to states.
Last November, Goulet wasn’t singing the blame-the-feds song. He claimed Gray was aggressively dealing with “spending pressures,” requiring managers to close gaps within their authorized budgets; a special task force was cracking the whip.
“There are things unforeseen that come up in a [$10 billion] budget. The mayor has been prudent in dealing with this,” continued Goulet. “I don’t see why anyone would be opposed to [the budget supplement.]”
Maybe because $10 billion is enough for a city/state the District’s size.
In fairness, Gandhi bears some responsibility. Fiscal management is under his purview. CFO spokesman David Umansky claimed agency fiscal officers are doing their part: They notify managers that “they have spending pressures.”
Here’s the ultimate truth in spending: Agency managers don’t sign checks. Gandhi and his folks do.
The council is expected to hold a hearing Tuesday on Gray’s proposal. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown didn’t respond to my requests for comment.
Finance and Revenue Chairman Jack Evans said, “Unless all the money goes into the savings [account] I will vote against the mayor’s supplemental budget.”
I’m with Evans on this one. The council should just say no. The executive shouldn’t be encouraged to treat taxpayers like a cash fount to protect managers who, because of wanting fiscal management, have blown through their authorized spending limits
Jonetta Rose Barras’s column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
