D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget proposal reflects a pledge she made weeks ago, in the aftermath of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer’s (OCFO) revised revenue estimates, to spend prudently and invest in the District’s post-pandemic comeback.
On Wednesday morning, she, along with City Administrator Kevin Donahue, Chief of Staff Lindsey Park and Jenny Reed, director of the Office of Budget and Performance Management, presented the budget proposal to the D.C. Council at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Northwest.
This year, there is nearly $20 billion on the table. Human support services and public education account for the lion’s share of the budget, at 30% and 25% respectively. Public safety and justice account for nearly 10%.
Bowser said she didn’t make investments in new, ambitious programs, primarily out of an obligation to close a $1.7 billion budget gap.
Mandatory budget items that needed funding were: collective bargaining agreements with District teachers, principals, firefighters and police officers; government retirement accounts; facilities maintenance; Medicaid, and debt service to support planned capital investment projects.
To balance the budget, Bowser tapped into the fiscal stabilization reserve, eliminated 749 vacant D.C. government positions, funded most District programs and services, including the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), at pre-pandemic levels, shifted use of federal Recovery Plan investment, and worked with the OFCO to certify $578 in anticipated revenue from traffic cameras that had been approved since 2021.
In light of cuts to ERAP, Department of Human Services, and D.C. Housing Authority, there have been concerns about the availability of affordable housing. Bowser said that officials have been able to meet their affordable housing goals through various means, including inclusionary zoning.
She also pointed out that her budget strengthened programs that District residents can utilize to qualify for higher-wage jobs.
“Part of our five-year and comeback plan is to focus on how we increase the income of District residents, and especially Black Washingtonians. We have unemployment numbers in the District that are below two digits in Wards 7 and 8,” Bowser said. “There’s no better time to get a good-paying job in Washington, D.C. Part of our focus and investments is to prepare D.C. residents to get jobs. We cannot focus that has to be our focus to make D.C. more affordable for more people.”
Looking Back at the Process to Shape the Budget
Over the last few weeks, the D.C. Council collected several hours of testimony from agency leaders during oversight hearings. Council members also submitted nearly 500 budget requests totaling more than $2.5 million.
Some of those requests include one made by D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) for a new public library and job center on the corner of 5th Street and Kennedy Street in Northwest. Ward 6 Council member Charles Allen (D) requested investments in flexible scheduling and teacher wellness initiatives.
Meanwhile, Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) requested investments in school-based behavioral health programs, the expansion of food access and nutrition programming and the acceleration of modernization for Burroughs Elementary School and Langley Elementary School. Council member Matt Frumin (D-Ward 3) requested a senior center and expansion of affordable housing.
In the end, the Bowser administration prioritized school and recreation center modernizations, behavioral health programs, affordable housing, downtown recovery and traffic safety. During Wednesday’s meeting, Bowser said that the return on investment for downtown recovery will eventually make more of the ambitious proposal a reality.
Though some council members elicited praise for some investments made, some of them raised questions about food access, housing, delays in recreation center construction projects, traffic camera revenue, quality of school repairs, school-based clinicians and the effect of vacancies on workload within the D.C. Department of Public Works.
D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At large), reflecting on his conversations with business owners, asked how MPD could establish more of a police presence around businesses in the Downtown corridor. Frumin also asked for clarity on how the Bowser administration secured matching funds from the Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) contract for teachers in the charter sector.
A Bowser administration official speaking on background the day before explained Bowser’s unique approach.
“The [public charter school match for] the collective bargaining agreement will go through the workforce investment account and that money will give the same percentage pay raise for charter school teachers that D.C. Public School teachers get,” the official said “But they will have to get through a grant program and provide information on the teachers they employ and pay scales.”
A Deeper Dive Into the Budget
Below is an overview of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s FY 2024 budget proposal:
Education: $145 million to support the 5.05% increase in per-pupil funding; $5 million to plan and launch the “My AfterschoolDC” central online hub for families to peruse after-school programs; $1.6 million for a teacher apprenticeship program; $6.8 million for a special education enhancement fund for childcare and out-of-school time slots for special-needs children; $222 million to convert the old Banneker Academic High School to Center City Middle School, renovate and expand MacArthur High School and renovate Winston Education Campus.
Recreation: $750,000 for the conversion of underutilized tennis and basketball courts to pickleball courts; $2.95 million for summer recreation programs and accelerated learning opportunities; $400,000 for additional summer camp slots for students with disabilities; $1.9 million for expanded pool hours at Ballou High School
Public Housing: $31 million for the Housing Production Trust Fund; $8 million to increase available down payment assistance through the Home Purchase Assistance Program; $1 million to expand the Strong Families, Strong Futures program.
Health & Human Services: $42 million to increase rental assistance through the Family Re-Housing Stabilization Program; $2.2 million to support homeless prevention and outreach; $1.7 million to support housing case management services for behavioral health service clients; $900,000 to eliminate medical debt for nearly 90,000 District residents.
Public Safety: Repealing the incremental removal of school resource officers; funding the Second Chance Amendment Act, $6.7 million in grants for victim services, $4 million to support Department of Corrections inmates with special-education needs; $1.2 million for a new paramedic school; $277 for a new annex to the Correctional Treatment Facility; $5.4 million in ongoing investments in police recruitment and conversion bonuses for new hires
Government Services: $2.5 million toward recruitment of 911 operators, social workers and other hard-to-fill positions; $4.2 million to enhance cybersecurity protections; $4.5 million to expand HVAC preventative maintenance to non-DCPS facilities.
Transportation Safety & Mobility: $7.4 million to install 342 new automated traffic cameras, $258 million to redesign dangerous roadways, $36 million to continue building more protected bike lanes, $19 million for temporary and permanent traffic-calming measures
In addition, a six-year capital budget of $19.3 billion finances HVAC upgrades in District schools, adds new school modernizations, keeps recreation center modernizations on track, and ensures roadway redesigns under Vision Zero. Other significant investments include: the launch of a full-service grocery store at the East Capital Gateway and a $9.8 million to improve Farragut Square Park.
Looking Forward to May
In the coming weeks, the D.C. Council will deliberate on Bowser’s budget proposal. One issue area that’s likely going to encourage debate will be the free bus fare program that the council approved last year.
Since the OCFO’s revised revenue estimate called into question the likelihood of a free bus fare program, Bowser learned new information about the additional costs that the program could incur. For one, if the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) were to provide free Metrobus service in the District, it would have to provide free access to MetroAccess for paratransit riders.
Additional considerations include how free bus fare would affect planned reduced fares for SNAP recipients, whether the funds from the Kids Ride Free program could offset the cost of the free bus fare program, and the need for WMATA to enter a multiyear financial agreement with the District.
In her March 16 letter to District Chief Financial Officer Glen Lee, Bowser requested an updated analysis. She said that wanted to give her council counterparts, and District residents, the full picture of how much the free-bus program would cost.
“Given the uncertainty of the total costs required to provide these fully subsidized transit services, it is unlikely I will be able to fund them in my FY2024 budget proposal,” Bowser wrote to Lee on March 16. “However, because several council members have stated their support for this proposal, it is important to understand the true and complete cost of launching and maintaining the program. I ask that your office expedite this financial analysis and share it with our residents.”
