(Wall Street Journal) — Attention New York City motorists: If you get into an accident and need the Fire Department to come to the rescue, expect a bill. Facing serious budgetary constraints, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration has decided to join a growing number of municipalities around the country that are charging motorists involved in accidents […]
(Washington Informer) — The District of Columbia Council passed a supplementary budget, 11-2, on Tue., Dec. 7 that will not include tax increases but will mandate that city employees be furloughed for four days and some programs will have to endure cuts. The budget was sent over to the D.C. Council after the Thanksgiving holiday because the […]
(Wall Street Journal) — New York City will begin charging private hospitals as much as $1 million a year for hospital ambulances dispatched by the city’s 911 system, a controversial initiative that some medical professionals fear will prompt hospitals to stop providing the service. Mayor Michael Bloomberg approved the new fee as part of his […]
(Washington Post) — Raising taxes and parking fines are the traditionally irksome ways that local governments generate desperately needed revenue. Not the District government, that hotbed of fiscal innovation. Try blackjack, Texas hold ’em and five-card stud. A D.C. council member is proposing that the city legalize and promote online poker and fantasy sports gambling […]
(Washington Post) — D.C. Council members are considering proposals to raise taxes on middle- and upper-middle-class residents, not just the wealthy, as they try to close a budget shortfall that they say will require deep cuts to social programs, potential layoffs or furloughs of city employees and new tax brackets. On Tuesday, the council will vote […]
(Washington Post) — D.C. Council members debated a possible income tax increase Tuesday as a stream of advocates for low-income residents, small-business owners, labor leaders and others lamented the proposed cuts in Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s gap-closing budget plan. At the all-day hearing, some council members and advocates called Fenty’s spending plan shortsighted and unfair, […]
(New York Times) — Since Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced last month that the city would eliminate 10,000 jobs, workers have been preparing for details on where those cuts would be made. At the Finance Department, layoffs appear to be falling disproportionately on minority groups and people with disabilities, according to one union representing city workers. […]
(Washington Post) — The District would greatly reduce the summer jobs program for youths as part of a plan released Tuesday to close a projected $188 million budget gap in the current fiscal year, and it would also reduce welfare assistance to residents and delay the start of a program requiring public schools to serve students […]
(Washington Post) — D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray (D) said Monday he might propose higher property, income or sales taxes to close a budget shortfall expected to exceed $500 million in the next two years. Gray’s comments, made during a television address designed to communicate the magnitude of the city’s financial challenges, were his most […]
(AP) — D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent Gray says the city’s fiscal challenges are “daunting” and is asking the public for suggestions on how to close a $188 million budget gap. Gray spoke Monday about the state of the city’s budget. Lawmakers have until the end of December to close the current budget gap caused by overspending […]
(Washington Examiner) — D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent Gray is scheduled to deliver a “State of the Budget Address” Monday morning, when he is expected to set the tone as the city prepares to slash $175 million from its budget to fix a shortfall. He is scheduled to be joined by economist Alice Rivlin and former Mayor […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Expect rolling back free transit rides for seniors to be back on the General Assembly’s agenda, either in the veto session or the spring session. Both Democratic and Republican legislative leaders have voiced support for altering the controversial program by limiting it to low-income seniors only. But means-test bills have failed […]