Even before he takes office in January, D.C. Council Chair and Mayor-elect Vincent Gray (D) will be a part of the strenuous process of dealing with D.C’s budget problems. Over the next two years, his administration will have to slash 583 million dollars from the District’s ballooning deficit by either raising taxes or cutting popular programs and services. While neither option is likely to win him friends, Gray must take a hard look at next year’s budget to bring services in line with the economic realities of a city still struggling to exit the recession.
Current Mayor Adrian Fenty’s (D) budget proposal to close this year’s $188 million gap includes no new taxes, instead relying on deep program cuts in D.C.’s operating budget. Hardest hit by these cuts are the city’s social services, youth programs, and police and emergency departments. While certain programs, like the perennially mismanaged Summer Youth Employment Program, deserve tighter scrutiny, wholesale cuts of welfare and Child and Family Services budgets place an unfair burden on residents who are most dependent on the District for assistance.
Cuts to the Healthy Schools Act in particular deserve reconsideration by Gray and the D.C. Council as they review Fenty’s proposal over the next two weeks. The hard-fought bill bought local produce for the city’s school lunches and was widely applauded as a model program for the nation when it was introduced in August. Delaying the program will only save $4.6 million for this year’s budget, but may have larger consequences for D.C.’s youth, a staggering 35.4 percent of whom are obese.
Instead of axing worthy programs that provide needed services to D.C. residents, councilmembers should put aside their pet projects and pipe dream capital spending plans to find a solution that fairly distributes the future deficit burden. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), for example, has made the ludicrous proposal to cut the salaries of D.C. government employees who do not live in the District while continuing to support the $2-3 billion required to renovate FedEx Field.
With the city’s debt ratio pushing the legal limit, now is not the time to dream up creative solutions that do not adequately address D.C.’s budgetary woes. Re-evaluating plans for a $50 million streetcar system or a $3 billion stadium would do more to reduce the city’s debt obligations than cutting dozens of smaller, more necessary programs. Gray and the D.C. Council must draw a line between the services that District residents want and the programs that they need.
