Everyone’s salivating over D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi’s expected announcement Tuesday of a $400 million surplus for the 2012 fiscal year. The money is the result of higher than projected tax revenues and reduced agency spending.

Ed Lazere, director of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, has said saving the entire amount would be “a wasted opportunity to make investments that will improve the quality of life in the District.” Mayor Vincent C. Gray appears to agree: He said he would tuck away only two-thirds of the money.