D.C. Council budget would restore mayor's cuts using reserves

State of play: Mendelson unveiled a budget Monday that would restore several major cuts to the D.C. safety net, reductions that Mayor Muriel Bowser had proposed to plug a $1.1 billion gap. They include:

• $49 million more toward a child care subsidy program.
• $173 million for housing vouchers.
• $14.5 million for cash assistance to needy families.
• Restored benefits for universal paid leave.
• $300 million to overhaul the Stadium-Armory Metro station before the new Commanders stadium opens in 2030.

To fund it all, Mendelson proposes raising $464 million by decoupling D.C. local taxation from President Trump's new tax cuts.

• And the rest, $150 million, would come from reserves. Mendelson says this would leave reserve funds at a level that would still cover 60 days of operating expenses.

But D.C. chief financial officer Glen Lee argued the drawdown would fly in the face of prudent bookkeeping during lean economic times.

• "Without adequate local reserves," Lee wrote to Mendelson on Friday, "the District risks being unable to meet its basic obligations," like payroll or pension payments. That's because the government sometimes taps reserve funds to cover day-to-day expenses, since tax payments arrive unevenly throughout the year.

• Invoking the 1990s, when Congress took over the city's finances, Lee wrote that such a condition "would trigger the return of the federal control board."

For his part, Mendelson says Lee is exaggerating.

• "If we don't make payroll, commit any of the seven deadly sins, we will go back to the control board," Mendelson told reporters. But with the plan he's proposed, he doesn't see that happening.

What's ahead: Lawmakers will take the first of two final votes Tuesday.