This spring, Mayor Fenty got his first chance to put his imprint on the city’s funding priorities, with his proposed budget for fiscal year 2008. Although the budget seems like a complex jumble of numbers, it's really where all the action is. More than anything, the budget shows us the new mayor’s true priorities among all the things he'd like to do.

So what do you think comes out as Fenty’s top budget priority? Affordable Housing? Universal Pre-K education?

Workforce Development?

Nope. From my analysis, the big winner in the proposed 2008 budget is (drum roll, please)…….Public Works. Yep. Fenty's budget for public works, transportation and related agencies would grow 15 percent, after inflation, more than double the percentage increase in any other area of the budget. Public Safety is Number Two.

I call this the “Tangherlini Effect,” after the former Director of Transportation who is now the City Administrator. Further proof of the Tangherlini Effect: the budget includes $56 million for items Fenty would like to fund if additional revenues can be found. Transportation projects comprise nearly half of these contingency funding items.

To be fair, putting together a budget is a challenging task for any new mayor. And a lot of things in the budget were planned before Fenty was even elected. When combined with relatively modest revenue growth, the new mayor had limited wiggle room to make a big budget statement.

Nevertheless, with tremendous economic divides and clear signs that many residents are not benefiting from the city's renaissance, it's a bit disappointing to see Public Works and Public Safety dominate Fenty's first budget. In some ways, it's easier to say what this budget isn't than what it is.

It's not an education budget, for example. The mayor, who soon will have control over the DC public school system (DCPS), proposed a funding cut for DCPS, although his folks would dispute that characterization. (See more below.)

It's also not an affordable housing budget, with no new initiatives and even a possible cut in funding due to a slowdown in the real estate taxes that DC dedicates to affordable housing. And while the budget provides some needed support to struggling human service agencies, I wouldn’t call it a human services budget, either -- no major initiatives to address unmet needs of our poorest residents.

So just where will the dollars go next year?
The DC budget is divided into seven broad areas. Looking at proposed funding changes for these tells a lot about the priorities.

Education
The $1.3 billion local funding represent just a 1 percent increase above inflation: Charter schools would continue to grow, from 19,000 students this year to 22,000 next fall. Funding for charters, tied mainly to enrollment, would grow from $272 million to $320 million.

Core DCPS funding also is tied to enrollment. Unlike charters, though, DCPS enrollment has been declining for years. To help cushion the blow, the District has allowed schools to use current-year enrollment to set the next year's budget. Fenty's advisers argued, however, that this gives DCPS money for students it doesn't have -- since the number of children who show up at DC public schools in the fall is lower than the number that left for summer vacation the year before. So the mayor's proposed budget would tie funding next year to projected enrollment -- which is a 6 percent decline.  

They may they have a point, but there's no escaping that this change in the funding formula will mean $25 million less for DCPS than they expected. While the budget points to a 4 percent increase in per-pupil funding, the formula change makes it from a 2 percent cut for DCPS.

Mayor Fenty claims that schools will have enough money even with this cut, er….formula change, while advocates say that there is no way schools can survive this without major staff or service cutbacks. We’ll have to wait and see who is right. As a DCPS parent who has looked at the numbers, I'm very nervous -- and I hope the District Council will step in to help.

Public Safety
DC spends a little more than $1 billion on police, fire, corrections and related departments. Fenty proposes an increase of 7 percent in funding,, second only to Public Works. The main factor is last summer's "crime emergency." Although it didn't turn out to be an extended crime surge, the council acted quickly to hire 300 more police officers, at an annual cost of more than $21 million. I argued at the time the money would be better spent investing in youth programs. I didn't win.

Indeed, Mayor Fenty's 2008 budget goes even further by proposing to hire 82 civilians for MPD, which would allow officers doing desk work to hit the beat. His public safety budget also adds more money for police equipment, as well as staff and equipment enhancements at the Fire Department, Department of Corrections and Medical Examiner’s office.

Public Works
 DC spends $560 million in this area, including the departments of Public Works, Transportation, Environment, Motor Vehicles and our payment to the Metro system. The mayor’s proposed budget increases all of them by more than 10 percent, with the exception of DMV. Transportation is the biggest winner, with $14 million in new funding for a variety of initiatives.

Health and Human Services
This represents the largest part of the DC budget, with $1.6 billion in local funds for departments of such as Health, Human Services, Child and Family Services (foster care and adoption), and Parks and Recreation. Funding for these services would grow 4 percent under the mayor's budget -- more slowly than the budget as a whole. It supports rising healthcare costs and growing numbers of residents who are signing up for DC’s Healthcare Alliance program for the uninsured. The mayor’s budget also provides needed support to child welfare and mental health services, mostly to address current service inadequacies.

What about Taxes?
Mayor Fenty’s budget is light on tax initiatives, but there are two worth pointing out - and another one that may materialize from the council before the budget is adopted.

911 Fee: Everyone who owns a phone in DC pays 76 cents per month to support 911 and 311 services. Mayor Fenty proposed raising that to $1.55, or about $10 per year per phone. One good element of this fee is that the federal government pays it for its DC phones.. Despite the modest impact, some councilmembers - particularly Phil Mendelson - oppose the increase.

Residential Property Tax: Mayor Fenty wants to give every homeowner and landlord a property tax cut -- from 86 cents to 84 cents per $100 of taxable assessed value. But he also wants to get rid of a law that automatically ratchets the tax rate down year after year. I think that’s a great plan. Before you start composing hate e-mail, consider these two facts. ONE: Due to tax cuts in recent years, two-thirds of DC homeowners have smaller property tax bills today than they did two years ago. TWO: Property taxes on DC homeowners are now the lowest in the region. Homes worth $600,000 in DC pay $2,900 on average in property taxes, compared with $3,800 in Montgomery County and $4,900 in Fairfax. I say it’s time for someone else to get some breaks. Renters of DC: Unite!

Coming Soon? Commercial Property Tax Cut
Businesses are starting to gripe that homeowners are having all the fun with tax cuts. Now they want some, particularly some small businesses arguing that rising assessments are killing them. While the commercial tax rate hasn’t been cut for about seven years, there also is no sign that commercial property owners as a whole are suffering. DC's offices, for example, charge the highest rents in the region yet have the lowest vacancy rates. If the council does anything, I hope it will be highly targeted to small neighborhood businesses.

Dipping into Savings to Balance Our Budget
Mayor Fenty's proposed budget plans to tap into the city's "accumulated fund balance" to the tune of several hundred million dollars. Our Fund Balance has been growing in recent years as a result of budget surpluses, and both Mayor Williams and now Mayor Fenty have proposed using it. On one hand, there is no reason to let our savings just pile up. On the other hand, it is unwise to rely on savings to meet ongoing operating expenses. The 2008 budget uses up virtually every unrestricted dollar in the city's fund balance. A year from now, the same programs will need money, but we may not be able to use our accumulated fund balance to pay for them.  

What Happens Next?
Each council committee will review its part of the budget and make some modifications. They can alter the mayor's budget by shifting funds from one agency to another -- to re-arrange priorities -- but they are not allowed to add to the totals in the mayor’s budget. This does not give the council a lot of wiggle room to change the budget, though sometimes a clever councilmember will find hidden money somewhere.

The final budget vote is on May 15. What will happen is still anyone's guess. Will they try to restore funding at DCPS? Will they try to eliminate the 911 fee increase? What will they find more money for?

In a big way, the answer will depend on what the council hears from residents. The DC budget is important to your life, so you should weigh in for the things you care about most. Abe Pollin just got $50 million from DC to fix up the Verizon Center, proving it never hurts to ask.