A fight over D.C.’s budget continues after Mayor Muriel Bowser did not sign the city’s annual spending plan into law. The move is now delaying two new sports betting apps from being launched.
Bowser returned the $21 billion budget that was passed by the council Tuesday, stopping shy of a straight-up veto.
In a letter sent to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, Bowser wrote she cannot support a “budget that needlessly increases our residents’ property and income taxes, raises the paid family leave tax to untested levels, or harms our public schools.”
She criticized the reversal of cuts that she suggested earlier this year and said new tax hikes were “unsustainable.”
The council passed a new “mansion tax” on single-family homes and condo units valued at more than $2.5 million. Those homes will still be taxed at the regular rate of 85 cents per $100 of assessed value up to $2.5 million, but every $100 in value after that will be taxed $1.
In her letter, Bowser instead suggested that the council take more time during its summer recess to find waste and cut more services to save money.
By not signing the bill, two sports betting apps, Bet MGM and Caesar’s, cannot launch within D.C. yet. Both companies were set to launch Monday. Approval for both companies to operate in D.C. was tied to the bill.
In response to the letter, Mendelson wrote, “The final budget has fostered very little criticism from the community at-large. Only the Mayor seems to still be upset. By her critical letter, is the Mayor asking, once again, that Congress take note and intervene in our local affairs?”
The passed budget did contain one major cut, the D.C. Circulator bus. It also included provisions to build a youth recreation center at the RFK Stadium site and money for a new jail.
Left unsigned the budget would still take effect, but it is still subject to a 30-day Congressional review. If Congress rejects the budget, the council and mayor would need to work on a new budget.
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