D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said she will provide the D.C. Council with her supplemental budget for the 2025 budget year, which accounts for the $400 million budget hole created by Congress earlier this year.
While it’s not clear exactly where the cuts will go, Bowser said the supplemental bill will be delivered with the 2026 budget for the council to consider.
“No matter what happens, we have to deliver a ’26 budget,” Bowser said.
The city’s chief financial officer has said the unexpected supplemental budget and the 2026 budget needed to be delivered together, and the city has been hoping for a budget fix after President Donald Trump had said he would support one.
“The question as to whether or not the Congress votes to allow D.C. to spend its locally generated tax money is a question that will affect how we spend between now and the end of September,” City Administrator Kevin Donahue said.
That means if Congress gives the city access to those tax dollars again, it would put the city back in its previously passed 2025 budget.
The mayor has received criticism over the delay in pushing forward the bill, including from D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson, who accused the mayor of allowing the process of getting the budget to the council “to languish.”
“I think that she’s been slower than me to accept that the House is unlikely to act,” Mendelson said in a news conference before Bowser announced he should expect the bill on Wednesday. “It’s not clear to me what the mayor’s thinking is at this point.”
Once the 2026 budget is in the council’s possession, Mendelson said the 70-day process of going over it and voting on it will begin.
‘Something is not going to be covered’: RFK Stadium deal
Mendelson said the 2026 budget is especially important now, since a part of it is expected to include a deal for a new Washington Commanders stadium, which could potentially cost taxpayers more than $1 billion.
“The only way that we could accommodate $1.1 billion in support for a stadium is to make some changes in the budget. Something is not going to be covered. I don’t know what it would be, but something would not be covered,” Mendelson said.
Mendelson is among four council members who said, as of right now, they do not support the deal, though he would like to see the NFL team back in D.C.
“My initial sense is that the deal is very, very, very favorable to the Commanders, and it’s nice to be supportive of the Commanders, but this is a taxpayer expense,” he said.
Mendelson also expressed concern about the planned garages, which he said the city will not collect parking taxes for.
Another concern for Mendelson, since the stadium announcement was made, is that no funding is in the plan for Metro riders. Donahue told WTOP last week that he believes the Metro infrastructure in place can handle opening day crowds at a new stadium, but Mendelson disagrees.
“I’m not convinced — that’s my short answer,” Mendelson said.
With what he knows so far about the deal, Mendelson said it could be better for taxpayers but admitted the likelihood that taxpayers are on the hook for $0 is “probably not achievable.”
Mendelson also took aim at the mayor’s deadline of July 15 for a council vote on the Commanders stadium deal: “Every stadium proposal before that has required more than two months for the council to work through, the end goal should be, what is the best deal for taxpayers? That is not stadium at any price, that would be stadium at a reasonable price.”
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