Gray Introduces 'Very Difficult' Budget

D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray on Friday announced plans to levy higher taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents while steeply cutting human services programs in a fiscal 2012 budget proposal that favors education and keeps public safety funding steady.

Mr. Gray’s $9.6 billion spending plan is composed of nearly 57 percent local funds, or $5.5 billion, and calls for $187 million in spending cuts, $127.2 million in revenue increases and $7.9 million in additional income to cover a $322 million budget shortfall.

The D.C. Council has 56 days to review the plan and offer changes before they vote on the budget, but some members were openly critical of either the tax increases or the spending cuts in the moments after Mr. Gray delivered the plan.

Council member Jack Evans, Ward 2 Democrat and chairman of the powerful Committee on Finance and Revenue who opposed income tax increases, was outraged by the mayor’s proposal, calling it “one of the worst I’ve seen in my time here.”

Mr. Gray touted his proposal as the first structurally balanced budget — not spending more than what comes in — in four years, noting that failure to restore stability could downgrade the District’s bond rating, increase congressional interference in D.C. affairs and erode home rule over city finances.

“This is a very, very difficult budget,” Mr. Gray told council members in a morning briefing. “I have said that repeatedly.”

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