Curious about how the city will be spending their budget next year? Mayor Bowser’s budget is not yet put together, but according to D.C. Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey S. DeWitt she’s got a shortfall in the amount of $256.3 million to worry about. How did that happen? According to Colbert King of the Washington Post, this is what happened.
Excerpt from Mayor Bowser’s Budget Test
by Colbert KingWarning: I’m about to get into the weeds with numbers, but there’s no way around it. The digits are what got us here in the first place. And we can’t get out without dealing with the numbers, in all their boring forms.
Shortly after the November election, DeWitt, operating under the notion that fair warning is fair play, notified Mayor Vincent Gray (D), Mayor-elect Bowser and all members of the D.C. Council that the city faced a budget gap of $163.1 million. A good chunk of the deficit resulted from spending for homeless services. In addition, the city had to cough up an estimated $15.7 million as a result of a court order.
Subsequent to the November report, DeWitt identified an additional $53.7 million of increased costs related to city-provided services.
The news wasn’t very bright on the revenue side, either. In fact, DeWitt notified city officials in December that anticipated fiscal 2016 revenue had fallen short by $39.5 million.
Hence, the total $256.3 million budget gap that Bowser and the council must close as they formulate and produce a balanced budget for the coming fiscal year.
What to do? What to do? After all those campaign promises to spend more on affordable housing, programs to end homelessness and incentives and subsidies for economic development comes now the hard part: fulfilling those champagne dreams with a soda-water pocketbook.
However Bowser and the council decide to balance the budget, they will have to find ways to reduce spending and increase revenue.
And it’s not going to be painless.
These numbers may be used as an excuse not to fund programs that are important (if not crucial) to DC’s under-served communities. On the other hand, maybe I’m just being cynical. The best way to hedge our bets here is to show up at the new mayor’s Budget Engagement Forums. Anyone willing to step up to the microphone will have the opportunity to provide input to help shape the District’s budget priorities. The forums are scheduled for the following dates and times:
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