The Council of the District of Columbia unanimously passed a $21 billion budget for fiscal 2025 despite some back-and-forth with Mayor Muriel Bowser.
The budget includes tax increases and cuts to some critical city programs, although some were saved despite Bowser’s wish to have other programs cut. The $700 million budget gap the city faced was closed with this budget.
“The budget the mayor proposed was criticized as less about ‘shared sacrifice’ and more about cutting programs that help the last, the lost, and the least. The council, collectively, has reworked this and our budget resets the District on the path to fight poverty and promote social justice,” D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said at the legislative meeting.
Bowser was looking to cut more city programs. She sought to cut the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, a program that subsidizes pay for day care and preschool teachers, but the council decided to fund it at a rate of $70 million per year.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington has experienced a loss of revenue from commercial property values. In a letter to Mendelson, Bowser expressed her concerns about the budget.
“I encourage Councilmembers to pick areas of spending each is willing to tackle and work with us over the summer. Without a dramatic change in our revenue growth, many of the programs the Council is championing this year will be on the chopping block in a few short months. By working together on this important task, we can do the work needed before next year’s budget formulation,” Bowser wrote.
“We took a proposal and transformed it into one that is more sensitive to the needs of residents, especially those needing the safety net, and more sensitive to business attraction and retention,” Mendelson said.
Three types of taxes will increase under the budget. Property taxes will increase on homes valued at $2.5 million or more. Sales tax will increase by 1% over the next two years. Additionally, the payroll tax for paid family leave will increase from 0.62% to 0.75%.
Council members were able to fund two of Bowser’s requests: a youth center on RFK Stadium grounds and the construction of a new jail.
“I’m grateful that we were able to work with colleagues, work with the chairman to ensure that that funding is back in place and the project can continue moving forward as anticipated,” she said. “The residents at the jail deserve it, and our entire public safety goals of our city rely on having a jail that is setting people up for success upon reentry.”
Around 600 additional housing vouchers will be available for those who could soon face homelessness. The vouchers come at the cost of $1 million being cut from Bowser’s idea for a new anti-truancy program at the D.C. Department of Human Services.
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“There are now 577 vouchers, and there’ll be an amendment to add even more than that,” Mendelson said. “What the mayor had submitted was zero vouchers. We will be at least 577.”
The D.C. Circulator bus was also cut from the budget.