Steve Burns
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON – (WMAL) D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is set to hand over her latest budget proposal to the Council Tuesday, the start of a long, meticulous process of hearings and examinations. Even though the District is enjoying unprecedented financial health, some officials like Council Chairman Phil Mendelson are still expressing a wariness to the proceedings.

“Even though our financial picture looks very healthy, and in many ways it is very healthy, there are still things for us to be concerned about,” Mendelson told reporters Monday.

Among his concerns is an ever-increasing debt service, Metro’s needs in the near future, and the use of surplus money from the previous year in the following year’s budget.

“We have been the beneficiary of remarkable economic growth over the last several years,” Mendelson said. “My rough calculation is that, in preparing the FY18 budget, compared to the dollars the Mayor had available for the FY17 budget, she has $600 million more.”

Still, Mendelson said, there are potential problems on the horizon, including debt payments. While he said the District is still under Congress’ 17 percent limit established in the Home Rule Act, they are nearing the District’s self-imposed 12 percent limit.

“It’s projected to be about $1 billion a year just debt on borrowing that’s already occurred,” Mendelson said.

But at the same time, Mendelson said he disagrees with a proposal from the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, which is asking the Council to cancel automatic tax cut triggers set to take effect in the next budget cycle. It cites more affordable housing needs in the city.

“It’s not like we are looking desperately for revenues,” Mendelson said. “The idea of more money, particularly when we don’t need it, and doing it on the backs of low- and middle-income residents is misguided.”

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