DC Mayor Muriel Bowser Proposes Cuts in Final Budget

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser on Friday unveiled her last budget before leaving office at the end of this year. The $21.2 billion gross operating spending plan trims the general-fund budget—which pays for core city services—to $12.7 billion, a 3.3 percent cut from the 2026 level. Priorities remain education and health care, especially Medicaid. Yet the proposal eliminates $127 million previously set aside for future collective-bargaining deals and non-union pay raises. It also caps the child-care subsidy program at 6,000 children and ends a pandemic-era wage supplement for child-care workers. Bowser told the D.C. Council the city is “not broke.” She said the reductions address a revenue shortfall caused by fewer federal workers and higher costs for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. ...