D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown has proposed spending extra dollars expected to come from next month’s revenue projection in the budget he’s putting before the council Wednesday morning.
On Tuesday, Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi advised against relying on the June revenue projection in the fiscal year 2012 budget, which goes into effect on Oct. 1. Officials have estimated the revenue projection will add anywhere from $20 million to $90 million to the city’s coffers in fiscal year 2012.
But Brown is pushing forward with locking in the dollars anyway.
His first priority is to use $10.8 million to hire more police officers. At-large Councilman Phil Mendelson has estimated that those dollars would bring the force to about 3,900 officer by September 2012. The department currently has about 3,850 officers and is losing around 15 a month to attrition. Police Chief Cathy Lanier has said it would mean “trouble” for the city if the force fell below 3,800.
Brown’s next three priorities would add about $19 million to human services programs, including $12 million to a rent supplement program.
His fifth priority is to apply $13.4 million toward repealing a tax he’s proposing on out-of-state municipal bonds. The proposal to tax the bonds and then repeal them if the dollars become available might cause Brown trouble with some council members and groups that oppose the tax.
