Mayor Adrian Fenty on Thursday dropped the ax on dozens of key District of Columbia agencies, including the police department, promising that he would rescue the city from its $131 million budget crisis without disrupting services.
In a hastily called news conference one day before the D.C. Council meets to discuss ways to save money, Fenty said his administration would trim more than $30 million by shaving from the budgets of dozens of city agencies, including the police and fire departments, the finance office and the departments of parks and health. The ax falls hardest on the cops, who are losing nearly $4 million under Fenty’s plan.
“We want to make sure we live within our means,” he told the news conference. Fenty repeated promises that the belt tightening wouldn’t hurt city services.
The mayor’s plan also would save about $100 million by:
— Eliminating more than 200 currently vacant jobs.
— Folding unused funds into targeted agency budget accounts.
— Cutting down on city phone use.
— Çhanging the city’s lottery vendor.
— Delaying increases to retirement benefits.
— Ending a car theft program.
— Infusing city coffers with recently signed lawsuit settlements and money from last year.
The District is looking at $131 million shortfall in its $9.5 billion budget for fiscal 2009, according to the finance office.
The Fenty team acknowledged that Thursday’s proposal is preliminary because it’s still early in the fiscal year. But the administration has been scrambling to get ahead of the budget crunch after being criticized for mismanaging the schools’ $1 billion budget.
The plan won early endorsement from Fenty loyalists on the council like Jim Graham, D-Ward 1, David Catania, independent-at large and Fenty’s protege, Muriel Bowser, D-Ward 4.
But the chorus was not unanimous.
“You can muddy up the numbers all you want, but the bottom line is that less money for the police means less public safety. And there’s no getting around that,” police union Chairman Kris Bauman told The Examiner. “I don’t know how anybody who was committed to public safety can do this.”
And Councilwoman Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3, said she was worried that team Fenty seems continually caught off guard by the sweep of events. She noted that the administration had deleted a $50 million rainy day fund that had been required by Congress.
“I suppose we could all keep our fingers crossed and hope that there’s no need to make further cuts, but I think that’s unrealistic,” she said. “This is OK as a stopgap approach, but both the executive and the council have to work together on a longer-term strategy.”
