DC Council Budget Vote Run Down

Cross-Posted from Save Our Safety Net

If you haven’t already heard, we didn’t win the income tax brackets. But we did win one progressive revenue source which is helping to pay for our other collective win: Millions in restorations to safety net services! And it is directly due to OUR PRESSURE! Check out this news report from the day before the vote:

But Jack Evans is already trying to undo $13 million in possible restorations in order to repeal the progressive revenue that did make it in the budget–a progressive revenue, incidentally, that HE VOTED FOR. He even wrote an email to other Councilmembers telling them “You need to help us”. They don’t seem to give up, but neither do we. Click HERE to take action to make sure all new revenue will go towards services and not a tax repeal.

WHAT DID WE GET IN THIS BUDGET?

Let’s start with SAFETY NET FUNDING RESTORATIONS

Restorations were either funded in the budget, or promised future funding in a list of priorities if the June revenue forecast reveals the city will be getting more money than Council thought. (It is widely estimated that there will be additional funding that can be used to start funding the priorities in the order the Council has laid out.) Here’s a table to show you how restorations stand (there may be adjustments here and there as the final budget is analyzed, but this should be fairly accurate):

**To help cover Victim’s Services cuts, the Council used $2.8M from the Domestic Violence Shelter Fund.
For more information about the potential restorations and the list of priorities check out this post on the District Dime.

This is an incredible accomplishment. We did not get everything this city needs, we need to keep fighting to protect what we did get,  and only time will tell how much of the $33.5M in future promises will actually be delivered. But as the Exec. Director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, Patty Mullahy Fugere, told us: “In my 20 years here at the Legal Clinic, I don’t think I’ve ever heard so many council members express concern about maintaining a safety net for our low-income and homeless neighbors.  It was a very welcome change.”

And this is because of your calls, emails, and participation in the numerous rallies, council visits, and actions in the past 3 months. (Seriously folks: early last week we heard that Homeless Services would only be getting $4M. By Friday (a few hundred calls, emails and a Safety Net Reality Tour later) that number had jumped to $17 million.)

And now on to PROGRESSIVE REVENUE:

We lost the income tax by two votes from two Councilmembers we had considered staunch allies until something happened in the back rooms of the Council. Tommy Wells and Marion Barry voted against the income tax, joining Cheh, Catania, Bowser, Kwame and Orange. For their votes in our favor, we profusely thank Michael Brown, Graham, Thomas, and our two newest safety net superheroes, Mendelson and Alexander.

Though we didn’t get the income tax, we did close the exemption on the out-of-state bonds tax which is projected to bring in a comparable amount of revenue. This was pretty amazing as it was a centerpiece of last year’s SOS campaign but it was not widely supported then. It became clear this bonds tax was just a gimmick intended to be repealed when the June revenue forecast is likely to reveal the city has a bit more to spend for this year. Kwame had written in language stating that he would use some of the extra revenue from the June forecast to “buy back” the tax. But Wells impressed us when he managed to pass an amendment to take out the repeal and redirect the funds to safety net services. He gets major props for that move.

ACTION POINT: Now Evans, Cheh, Kwame and Catania are plotting to take away the $13 million earned by Wells’ amendment, money that is currently promised to Homeless Services, Interim Disability Assistance, the Housing Production Trust Fund and Children’s Mental Health. CLICK HERE to call the Council today to make sure this doesn’t happen!

Thanks for all your hard work during this campaign. This budget vote revealed a real shift in priorities, a shift made because of the pressure mounted by all of you!

We need to keep up the fight before the final budget vote on June 15th, but I’m sure we can do it! Let’s start today by calling our Council members!