Some D.C. Council members and residents may be alarmed by recent news that the city missed out on more than $100 million because Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi apparently failed to properly implement a portion of the 2000 Tax Clarity Act. But that stunning revelation hasn’t distressed Mayor Vincent C. Gray, Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown or finance committee head Jack Evans. Despite the city’s fiscal woes, they haven’t demonstrated any Willie Sutton-esque determination to go get the money. Mayoral spokeswoman Linda Wharton Boyd said Gray “has directed the attorney general to work with the CFO to find a constructive solution” to the problem. Brown said he is “very concerned” but is “waiting for the CFO’s response.”
Ditto from Evans, who said he has been more focused on the budget and redrawing boundary lines for the city’s wards. He said he would decide what to do after Gandhi’s report. “If it warrants, I will hold a [public] hearing,” continued Evans, whose committee oversees the CFO. “But I don’t see that happening before the summer recess.”
Three cheers for the District’s fiscal stewards.
The 2000 clarity law required Gandhi to fully tax refinanced commercial property, “if the tax was not paid on the existing debt.” Two Washington lawyers — Jeffrey Mitchell, with the Oldaker Law Group, and James Stanton — discovered the CFO has never done that.
Gandhi and crew have claimed there was interpretation confusion; they also have tried to sully the lawyers’ reputation. Some real estate owners and their lobbyists have joined in the spitball throwing. But government documents indicate several of those industry representatives argued against the law. They knew it would mean more money in city coffers and less in their pockets.
Besides, Gandhi can’t be confused. He wrote the legislation. Further, two 2001 memoranda made clear his office’s understanding of the council’s intent. The correspondence, dated Oct. 5 and written on CFO letterhead, was distributed to “the general public, title insurance companies, abstractors and attorneys.”
The uncollected-funds fiasco is just the latest consequence of Gandhi’s lax management. It may not be as sexy as stories about Harriette Walters’ embezzlement of $50 million and the shopping sprees to Neiman Marcus or gambling jaunts to Las Vegas financed with those funds.
But it’s no less serious.
District residents lose big when senior managers don’t do their jobs and elected officials don’t care enough to demand accountability and better performance.
How could that $100 million have been used?
It could have covered operating costs for the D.C. Public Library or the subsidy for the University of the District of Columbia. It could have funded Department of Health expenses or most of the Department of Public Works’ $102 million budget.
Don’t think this is all past imperfect. It’s unclear whether, after being alerted by the lawyers four months ago, Gandhi has begun to accurately assess commercial taxes as the law requires. It could be that millions of dollars continue to go uncollected.
Would anyone be surprised?
Jonetta Rose Barras’ column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
