Bowser's budget, flush with federal dollars, boosts spending on housing, mental health, violence

Bowser’s budget, flush with federal dollars, boosts spending on housing, mental health, violence prevention


D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) on Thursday proposed a fiscal 2022 budget that would increase spending on a vast array of projects, including housing, education, violence prevention and bike lanes, thanks in part to a flood of federal coronavirus relief dollars.

Without raising taxes, Bowser’s draft budget would boost funding in almost every major area — with the notable exception of the police department, whose funding activists have pressured her to cut. Bowser proposed a reduction in funding of about $36 million, since the police department shrank its payroll by about 200 positions this year. But she also suggests hiring 135 additional officers next year.

The $17.5 billion budget for the year beginning Oct. 1, will be considered and revised by the D.C. Council in coming weeks. It reflects a whirlwind turnabout from last year, when the city froze hiring and pay raises while dipping deep into reserves to cover projected revenue shortfalls during the coronavirus pandemic. This year, with projected revenue rising, hiring is back — and city employees will receive their delayed raises. With more than $2.3 billion from the federal American Rescue Plan that must be used over the next four years, Bowser also proposes extensive spending.

Among the long list of ideas included in her budget proposal: $8 million to hire on-site mental health clinicians for the more than 80 public and charter schools that do not employ any; $26 million to buy laptops and smartphones for seniors and needy families; 80 Capital Bikeshare stations — enough to put one within a quarter-mile of every home — and 3,500 new electric bikes; and construction of a “sobering center” for people to detox from drugs outside of a hospital or jail.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-budget-bowser-police/2021/05/27/11acef38-be69-11eb-83e3-0ca705a96ba4_story.html