There is a mystery roiling at the John A. Wilson building over who put a $20 million tax in D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty’s proposed fiscal 2008 budget.
Council Member Phil Mendelson, D-at large, immediately cried foul. Fenty promised not to raise taxes during his campaign for the seat last year.
“There’s no way you slip a $20 million tax increase into the budget without anyone noticing,” Mendelson said.
At issue is a more than 100 percent increase in the E-911 fee for every phone line in the city that is intended to raise about $20 million so the city’s Unified Communications Center can buy new equipment. It is included as a mayoral policy initiative in the budget Fenty submitted to the Council on Monday.
Fenty said independent Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi is responsible for the budget addition and defended himself, saying there is “no truth” to speculation at city hall that he had tried to slip a tax hike past the council.
“When Gandhi sent over the budget, that was in there,” Fenty said Tuesday. “The only thing we can figure is that Gandhi thinks that’s an important way to make sure those operations over at UCC, that were paid for out of capital dollars and that will have to be paid out of operating dollars going forward, get paid for.”
A day after he questioned Gandhi on Monday about how the tax wound up in the initial budget, Council Chair Vincent Gray sent a letter to Gandhi admonishing him for the action. Gandhi told the council Monday the tax was an “error on our part,” prompting some to question whether he took the fall for Fenty.
“There is no plausible explanation for that,” Gandhi said. “We are deeply sorry that it has happened.”
CFO spokeswoman Maryann Young said Fenty had to have been aware of the tax.
William Singer, the chief budget aide for City Administrator Dan Tangherlini, reaffirmed Fenty’s statement Tuesday and argued that the E-911 fee is not a tax.
Staff Writer Michael Neibauer contributed to this report.
