Mayor-elect Vincent Gray delivered a State of the Budget speech Monday but told residents what they already knew: The District faces a budget gap for this current fiscal year 2011 of $188 million. In 2012, the problem is greater: $345 million. But the man who currently leads the D.C. Council and soon will be the chief executive of the $10 billion public corporation called the District government didn’t offer a solid fiscal blueprint. Instead, Gray repeated what he’d said on the campaign trail: everything is on the table; there will be budget cuts; there may be tax increases; the public will have an opportunity to offer ideas.
After he concluded his speech, he didn’t accept questions on camera from the media — a maneuver that sometimes was deployed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and for which the outgoing executive often had been criticized.
“He stated the obvious and then left,” said one council member, who, like others, was baffled by Gray’s actions.
Gray’s tone was somber and his language at times was strong. But his most inventive solutions were timid: create a $50 million reserve, freeze capital projects, and establish a blue-ribbon commission.
Council Chairman-elect Kwame Brown, who attended the event, also sounded tough: “I will ensure that the Council, as a co-equal branch of government, will thoroughly review the city’s long term financial health, and approve spending measures which are fiscally responsible to allow the District to persevere in a struggling economy.”
That’s all good. But, talk always has been cheap. In Washington it’s lower than bargain basement prices.
Neither Brown nor Gray offered any assessment of the revised budget submitted Monday by Fenty to address the $188 million shortfall. That seemed odd, since Gray had reported that he and his staff were intimately involved over the last several weeks with the executive in the development of the gap-closing plan. Further, during his speech, he said he and Gandhi had thoroughly examined the budget.
Still, there wasn’t a clue from Gray whether he embraced those across-the-board cuts that, among other things, Fenty has proposed. “It’s very good plan,” said one city hall source. “[Fenty] has about $180 million in cuts–to human services, schools, public safety. There is nothing left untouched.”
Equally troubling, Gray didn’t discuss the fact that nearly half of the $188 million budget gap comes from overspending: covering 2010 deficits with 2011 funds. Then there are projections of more so-called “spending pressures” in 2011; will any of those be covered by 2012 funds?
Truth be told, a budget is simply a document. Fidelity and enforcement by financial managers are how it achieves relevancy and force. If Gray is unprepared to hold CFO Gandhi and his multi-million dollar team accountable, then it doesn’t matter what he says in any televised speech. The city will face the same problem in 2013 — even if the recession improves.
Jonetta Rose Barras can be reached at [email protected].
Jonetta Rose Barras’s column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
