From the office of Chairman Phil Mendelson:
“DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson released the following statement regarding the District’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget proposal.
“The Mayor handed the Council a budget with hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts in critical programs like the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, the Childcare Subsidy Program, Universal Paid Leave, Access to Justice and domestic violence programs,” Mendelson said. “The budget I am proposing restores all these programs. A vast majority of the money I am using for these restorations comes from tax revenues the CFO withheld from the Mayor’s budget formulation, as well as a small reduction in the fiscal stabilization reserve fund.”
“This isn’t the first time the Council has drawn from reserves for budgets,” Mendelson said. “The city’s goal is to have 60-days spending in reserve. Right now, we have over 60 days’ reserves. With this budget, we’ll have 62 days.”
The Chairman’s recommendations include increasing our supports for public EDUCATION by:
- Restores the EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR PAY EQUITY funding to $72 million. The Mayor’s budget reduced the total to $12 million.
- Eliminates the need for a waitlist in Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027 for the CHILDCARE SUBSIDY PROGRAM, by increasing funding for the Program by $10 million in FY 2026 and by $39 million in FY 2027; these enhancements bring total funding for the Program up to $150 million in FY2026 and $153.2 million in FY2027, allowing approximately 8,450 children to be served on an average monthly basis.
- Adding $15 MILLION IN FUNDING TO THE PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS UPSFF budget in FY27. This will not bring them to level funding with DCPS but will help close the gap created by the Mayor.
- Restoring $6 MILLION FOR SUBSIDY TO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. The Mayor had cut $10 million.
In the area of HOUSING the Chairman’s recommendations include:
- $173 million over the financial plan at Department of Housing Services and DC Housing Authority to support 569 VOUCHERS: 379 vouchers at adequate levels so that turnover vouchers are not lost; plus 190 vouchers for families exiting rapid rehousing. The Mayor’s budget included no new vouchers and did not include enough funding to ensure that existing vouchers are adequately funded.
Regarding QUALITY OF LIVING, the budget recommendations concerning Universal Paid Leave, TANF and Healthcare include:
- Partially RESTORING THE MAXIMUM WEEKLY UNIVERSAL PAID LEAVE BENEFIT to $1,100 and indexing the benefit amount to inflation; the Mayor’s budget capped the maximum weekly benefit amount at a flat $1,000.
- Partially RESTORES MEDICAL LEAVE TO 10 WEEKS in FY27 and the financial plan, which the Mayor eliminated in FY27 and reduced in the out years from 12 to 8 weeks.
- Partially RESTORES FAMILY LEAVE TO 6 WEEKS in FY27, which the Mayor eliminated in FY27 and reduced from 12 to 6 weeks in the out years.
- DELAYS THE MAYOR’S TANF SANCTIONS AND STEPDOWN in benefits by another year at a cost of $14.5 million.
- Increases INVESTMENTS IN HEALTHCARE by roughly $53.2 MILLION, which includes removing the moratorium for new Alliance enrollees up to 138% of the federal poverty level.
In the area of PUBLIC SAFETY the highlighted recommendations are:
- Adding $2.37 million in funding for YOUTH PROGRAMMING for recreation center operations in FY27 to investments made by Councilmembers’ Lewis George and Nadeau’s committees.
- Restores 58 CURRENTLY FILLED POSITIONS AT THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL that the Mayor proposed to cut. These positions are primarily paralegals and legal assistants who do critical work supporting litigation in the Office. Restoring these positions costs roughly $7 MILLION ANNUALLY.
- Restores $23.8 MILLION to Access to Justice, on top of the $3.5 million provided by other councilmembers, which results in a total budget of $31.8 MILLION for the program, the same as Fiscal Year 2026.
- REINSTATES $5.5 MILLION to bring victim services grants to FY26 levels. The Mayor’s proposed budget cut victim services grants at a time when domestic violence homicides are increasing.
Budget Recommendations regarding TRANSPORTATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL Programs include:
- Restoring $7.9 MILLION TO THE SUSTAINABLE ENERGY TRUST FUND (SETF), along with the $2.2 million identified by Councilmember Charles Allen in Committee, for a total restoration of $10.1 MILLION. The Mayor’s proposed budget included a $17.9 million sweep to the SETF. The SETF is used to support the Sustainable Energy Utility contract for programs like Solar for All, Healthy Homes, and their rebate program.
- ADDS $1 MILLION to the Committee on Transportation and the Environment’s restoration of $6 million to meet FEDERAL CLEAN WATER REQUIREMENTS. Each year, the Mayor’s proposed budget has redirected funding necessary funding for federal compliance; for FY27, this amount was $4.4 million.
- $300 MILLION in the capital budget to fund EXPANSION OF THE STADIUM ARMORY METRO. The Mayor’s proposed capital budget included no funding for Stadium Armory Metro station improvements prior to the 2030 opening of the new RFK Stadium, even though these improvements are necessary to serve the stadium.
The budget proposal also rejects the Mayor’s proposed tax on hotel stays of $0.80 per room, per night. It also adds $100 MILLION FOR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS in the Workforce Investment Account. The Mayor included no FY27 funding in her proposed budget. Currently, the fund has a budget of $178.8 million, but that funding covers existing contractual obligations with FOP and WTU.”