Mayor Adrian Fenty is committed to solving the District’s financial crisis without raising taxes, his top aide said, but he warned that budget cuts will be harsh and widespread.
City Administrator Neil Albert cautioned of “painful choices” that will have to be made as the administration crafts its fiscal 2011 budget. The District’s projected $220 million shortfall in the current fiscal 2010 pales in comparison to the $556 million gap it faces next year.
“Those choices will be across the spectrum,” Albert said. “They will affect some projects that are near and dear to all of us in this room. Nothing is off the table at this time.”
Except tax increases.
“We have said over and over again we will not raise taxes,” the city administrator said. “We’ve been consistent in the three years and two months we’ve been here in not sending any proposal to the council that includes tax increases.”
Fenty pledged during his 2006 campaign not to increase taxes. He is up for re-election this year.
The District has raised taxes under Fenty’s leadership — sales, gas and tobacco among them — but those increases were suggested by the council. Fenty’s budget proposals, however, have been heavy with fee and fine increases.
Examples of D.C. fee increases under Fenty
» For taxi and limousine licenses
» For D.C. employee parking
» For parking meters
» For basic business licenses
“We cannot tax people out of this city,” said Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr., also up for re-election. Friday’s council hearing targeted overspending in about a dozen government agencies projected to total about $200 million before the end of the fiscal year.
Fenty has proposed a series of actions to close the 2010 shortfall: slashing spending by $99 million, restructuring debt and transferring up to $100 million out of dedicated funds to the general fund.
“The [agency] directors for the most part live within their means,” Albert said.
Council members were skeptical of the mayor’s solutions and frustrated that so many executive branch agencies have struggled to stay within budget. Council Chairman Vincent Gray asked “why we keep proposing a budget that has no basis in reality.”
