D.C. mayor says she is the envy of city leaders worldwide for flush budget
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Version 0 of 1. Rising real estate prices in the nation’s capital have eased D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s job to balance the city’s budget. Bowser (D) on Monday night told a crowd of D.C. residents that double-digit growth in property-tax revenue has made her job the envy of mayors worldwide, with the increase allowing her to focus on how to invest new money than to worry about cuts in the spending plan that she must present later this month. “We can afford to invest in the things that will make our city great. We have a lot going for us. . . . Mayors all around the world would trade places with me in a minute,” Bowser said. But she also warned that need is great, too. “There are a lot of pressures from housing. There are a lot of pressures from folks who don’t have as much as others. And it is our responsibility, in a city as prosperous as ours, to make the necessary investments so that every Washingtonian has a fair shot.” The mayor’s upbeat tone was markedly different from a year ago. When she was crafting her first citywide budget last winter, Bowser warned of unpaid bills from her predecessor’s term and said the city would have to figure out how to do more with less in a year of flat revenue growth. Improving revenue projections later relieved many of the mayor’s concerns. This year, the outlook at the beginning of the budget season is even better. General fund revenue is expected to increase by roughly $244 million, to $7.14 billion. By 2020, D.C. revenue is forecast to grow to $7.84 billion. That’s nearly $1 billion, or about 14 percent, higher than the current fiscal year. The District’s chief financial officer said Friday that the majority of new revenue could be traced back to a year of rising real estate prices that more than offset fluctuations in capital gains and other income-tax revenue amid a turbulent year for financial markets. Bowser and dozens of members of her senior staff and cabinet on Monday night wrapped a third public budget forum to discuss the spending plan. With an atmosphere that at times resembled a game show, Bowser’s deputy mayors for public safety, health and human services, and education made arguments to more than 250 residents about why their agencies deserved to spend the increase. Residents sat huddled around tables in a Southwest community center, debating how to divide the city’s revenue. Residents applauded most loudly for increases to education and housing. Not all of the money will be available for Bowser to direct to housing or other priorities, though. Under a package of tax cuts approved by the D.C. Council in 2014, the rising revenue will trigger a new round of reductions, this time lowering business taxes from 9.2 percent to 9 percent. The District will also increase the estate tax threshold from $1 million to $2 million, putting it more in line with federal guidelines. More tax cuts could ensue in the coming year if revenue continues to outpace expectations. Those changes would increase residents’ standard tax deduction for both individuals and couples, and they would lower corporate taxes one more time. |