Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) presented the first budget proposal of his mayoral tenure to the District Council on Monday, where it was greeted with both praise and concern. Though councilmembers said they had not had time to look at the budget in depth, many voiced uncertainty. Fenty requested $5.7 billion in local spending, but added no new taxes. The District’s Chief Financial Officer, Natwar Gandhi, said in a letter attached to the budget that this was an 8.8 percent spending increase over the budget for 2007.
Councilmember and Georgetown alumnus David Catania (I-At-Large) praised the mayor’s willingness to accept input from the Council, but said that he was concerned about the implications for economic development of the District, saying that rising property assessments will, at current tax rates, drive businesses into surrounding counties.
Councilmember Schwartz, too, said that the proposal includes excessive decentralization of the government.
“That means everybody in government, every agency has a credit card,” she said. “When you’ve got every agency out there with their own little contracting and procurement fiefdom, it’s just rife for abuse.”
The Council, which has final authority over spending in the District, will vote on a final spending plan in May.
