Overview: Budget Formulation and Approval

Each fall, the Council passes a budget submission requirements resolution that establishes the date by which the Mayor must submit the proposed budget for the next fiscal year; the resolution also states what information and documentation must be submitted with the proposed budget.

Every spring, the Mayor’s proposed budget and financial plan is submitted to the Council. Once the Council has the proposed budget, Council committees review the request for each of the agencies under their purview before holding public hearings on each agency. At each hearing, the Councilmembers receive testimony from the public and then question agency directors about the budget proposal. After the hearing period concludes, each Council committee chair prepares a budget report of recommendations that is then marked up and approved by the full committee. Each committee report includes recommendations for funding and personnel levels for each agency, policy proposals, legislation necessary to implement the recommendations, and any other budget-related analysis that the committee deems appropriate.

After all committees approve their reports, the Council’s Office of the Budget Director, under the Chairman’s direction, incorporates the committees’ recommendations with additional Council-wide recommendations into a single unified budget. As required by the District’s Home Rule Act, the final product must be a balanced budget. The whole Council then reviews and approves the budget and corresponding report.

Upon Council approval, the budget is forwarded to the Mayor, who may sign or veto the Council’s budget. Pursuant to the Local Budget Autonomy Amendment Act of 2012, the Chairman transmits the local portion of the budget for a passive 30-day congressional review. The Mayor submits the federal portion of the annual budget to the President for inclusion in a federal appropriations act approved by Congress.

Budget Process: (Step-by-Step)

Links to Budget Documents

Fiscal Year 2020
Fiscal Year 2019
Fiscal Year 2018
Fiscal Year 2017
Fiscal Year 2016
Fiscal Year 2015
Fiscal Year 2014
Fiscal Year 2013