jonetta rose barras: Mayor Bowser’s budget is an example of pragmatic politics

Soon after Washington Teachers’ Union president Elizabeth Davis learned there was a 3% increase in the per-pupil spending for public education in the proposed fiscal year 2021 budget and financial plan, she called DC Mayor Muriel Bowser at her home. Davis told me, “I had to give her her props. I appreciated that she left schools harmless in this time of crisis.”

Terry Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations and a longtime civic activist, also praised Bowser’s budget. “The mayor has eased the pain as best as possible, rightly tapping into the years of plenty to see us through this winter,” he said.

“The [DC] Council’s years of spendthrift made her work that much harder,” Lynch continued, noting the times the legislature has opted to increase funding for programs over the recommendations made by the mayor. “But she is handling the huge budget challenge the same as she is the pandemic — skillfully, with residents’ needs, safety and health first and foremost.”

He and Davis, not unlike most residents, had been preparing for the worst. Bowser’s  $16.7 billion fiscal year 2021 budget — $8.5 million of which will come from local funds — brought a collective sigh of relief across the city. With guidance from Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey DeWitt, City Administrator Rashad Young and Budget Director Jennifer Reed, the mayor avoided massive cuts. 

Bowser opted instead to draw money from three of the city’s savings accounts, redirect previous surpluses and freeze salary increases, including those that had been negotiated in union contracts. As highlighted in her public presentation on the budget, she also made some investments in crowd-pleasing programs.

The public health emergency caused by COVID-19 has trampled over the District, forcing a shutdown of schools and businesses, especially restaurants and retail outlets.  DeWitt had forecasted revenue shortfalls of $722 million for this current year and $774 million for fiscal year 2021, which begins Oct. 1. The combined total of nearly $1.5 billion was a huge gap to close, made even worse by the U.S. Senate’s refusal to treat DC as a state, thereby depriving it of $755 million in the federal CARES Act. Under that legislation, each state was given at least $1.2 billion, while the District received only about half that amount. 

At the start of 2020, the city was swimming in an ocean of cash. Now it’s drowning in a sea of red ink. 

To some people, Bowser’s four-year financial plan could be seen as the epitome of political pragmatism. She placated nonprofit lobbyists and advocates who had already begun to demand protection for favored programs. She also took the prudent and necessary steps to prevent the city from inching toward the depression that some have predicted. 

While her decision to forgo tax increases, cut spending for the Housing Production Trust Fund and freeze salaries were all ideas I have promoted in this column, Bowser’s budget generally sidesteps tough calls — even those that might have gotten substantial public support given the current crisis, which is sure to reshape the city’s economic landscape even with extraordinary preventative measures. For example, the mayor could have offered significant restructuring of the government, something that is strongly needed. The salary freeze will produce savings of only $250 million in the out years of the financial plan — a pittance in an $8.5 billion local budget. 

The 2021 public education budget — which as proposed is $3.1 billion, or 19% of overall spending — exacerbates a wasteful, cannibalistic system through the unhealthy and uncontrolled proliferation of charter schools. Despite investments praised by Davis and others, the budget allocations will continue the city’s failure to sufficiently address the academic and social-emotional needs of children from poor and low-income families.  

Equally important, the mayor’s proposal aggressively eats into the city’s savings accounts. Snatching cash from every corner could leave the city in a fragile position unable to forcefully fight back against a second or third wave of the coronavirus, particularly if there is another shutdown of restaurants, hotels and other revenue-generating enterprises. 

Such a scenario could mean another $300 million revenue shortfall in 2021, CFO DeWitt predicted earlier this week. “That’s the point why we need to be prudent and not [go] crazy with any other changes” to the financial plan, he told council members.

Several possible cost-saving measures were proposed by DC Auditor Kathy Patterson in an April 27 letter to Council Chairman Phil Mendelson. She suggested one area of review should be agencies that have seen enormous budget increases over the past three years. The current fiscal year’s “approved budget represented a more than 8% increase over the approved FY 2019 budget, but some agencies have seen significantly larger spending increases,” Patterson said, citing as examples the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Office of Campaign Finance, and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education. 

Along with the handful that saw budgets double from 2017 to 2020, “another two dozen agencies saw their budgets increase 20%” over the same period, added Patterson, who was a council member in the mid-1990s when the city faced bankruptcy. She also suggested in her letter that the council consider employee furloughs and layoffs, and work with the unions around adjustments to approved contracts.

The salary freeze Bowser and her team proposed includes contract adjustments. Davis said, “I did not compliment her about that.” The central labor council, which includes leadership of local unions, was expected to meet this week to discuss a strategy. A legal fight may be on the horizon.

Appearing with the mayor and CFO on Tuesday at the council’s first budget hearing, Young said he had spoken with union leaders but there was no agreement. He made clear, however, that absent the freeze, “We would most certainly and definitely have furloughs and layoffs.”

It’s a keep your job or lose your job moment for government workers at a time no one wants to be unemployed.

The executive branch seemed to appreciate the fiscal crisis facing the District. The legislature maybe not so much.

During the budget hearing, council members quibbled over cuts to favored agencies and programs and raised the specter of tax increases, as if the COVID-19 crisis hasn’t affected every segment of the economy, including those with Wall Street investment accounts.

At-large Council member Elissa Silverman questioned cuts to housing — particularly funding to help preserve units that are currently considered affordable, for which the budget allots $1 million. It also provides $100 million in the Housing Production Trust Fund; $35 million to “expand permanent and temporary supportive housing,” mostly for homeless families; and $76 million in capital improvement funds for public housing repair, maintenance and renovation, stretched over two years.

Council Chairman Pro Tempore Kenyan McDuffie vowed not to let stand cuts to public safety, especially the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement. The mayor has proposed nearly $1.4 billion for public safety in her 2021 budget. 

Ward 6’s Charles Allen, chair of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, suggested that council members consider rescinding a tax reduction that had been provided to DC residents who earned $350,000 or more. “These households can afford a slight bump in taxes,” he said during the hearing.

And that was only the first budget hearing. Just wait until nonprofit lobbyists, advocates and others have their turn at the mic. Additional hearings are scheduled throughout May and June. A final vote on the budget is expected in July with a last review in August, after the CFO provides a final revenue report.

“The most practical thing the council needs to do is not spend any more money,” Patterson said.

But it’s an election year. Don’t hold your breath. 

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jonetta rose barras is an author and freelance journalist, covering national and local issues including politics, childhood trauma, public education, economic development and urban public policies. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.