FY 2021 Budget and Financial Plan Summary Reports

During the month of September, the Council’s Budget Office is issuing a series of reports that highlights some of the most important enhancements that the Council funded in the FY 2021 Budget and Financial Plan. These reports explain and contextualize the Council’s budget enhancements.

introduction

The FY 2021 Budget and Financial Plan reflects the District of Columbia’s progressive values and envisions a more just and equitable future by investing in policies, programs, and services that tackle the root causes of racial injustice and work to alleviate its symptoms. The District simultaneously faces the greatest public health crisis in living memory, a social reckoning on the compounded effects of generations of racial injustice, an unprecedented number of residents facing job loss, businesses everywhere on the brink of financial ruin, and declining tax revenues. The FY 2021 Budget and Financial Plan recognizes that the District has a tough road ahead, but a recovery that gets us back to “normal” is not good enough. The FY 2021 Budget and Financial Plan guides the District of Columbia towards both financial recovery and racial equity.

Investing in education

The Council continues its commitment to ensuring all District students receive a meaningful education with $17.5 million of investments in the FY 2021 operating budget and the FY 2020 supplemental operating budget. These enhancements include childcare subsidies, library opening hours and circulation, literacy grants, school financial transparency, and out-of-school time grants.

social determinants of health

Through the FY 2021 budget, the Council continues its efforts to promote the health of residents and increase access to healthcare with $27.9 million of new investments in the operating budget and the tax code. Some of these enhancements will allow more District residents to maintain health insurance, while others provide mental health services in the community and in an academic setting, expand school-based nutritional programs, and train the next generation of healthcare workers.

inclusive governance

Through the FY 2021 Budget and Financial Plan budget, the Council continues its efforts to promote inclusive governance by increasing accountability and trust in government institutions. The Council makes investments and advances legislation that will ensure that the District government is responsive to the needs of all of our diverse communities. The Council’s $5.1 million in enhancements promote equity; celebrate D.C. music and culture; increase transparency of political campaigns; and lower barriers to voting.

Economic justice

To promote economic justice and address both the impacts of COVID-19 and the racial disparities that predate the pandemic, the Council makes $209.4 million of enhancements in the operating budget and tax code and by leveraging federal resources. These enhancements promote economic justice in housing, homeless services, employment, and business development. They include funding for the development and preservation of affordable housing, preventing eviction, cash assistance to workers who do not qualify for unemployment assistance, protecting workers’ rights, and support for small businesses.