In case you haven’t been paying attention to the ins and outs of the D.C. Council’s recently passed FY 2010 budget, here are some of the highlights. Also see Tim Craig, Gary Emerling and Michael Neibauer for more coverage.
- More parking tickets! Yes, the D.C. Council is banking on drawing in an additional $12 million or so from increased parking enforcement zealotry. Not only will the fines for violating alternate-side street sweeping rules go up to $40, the Council is also calling for 12 additional sweepercam vehicles in order to literally blanket the city and be able to catch every single parking violator in town. They’re estimating the increased vigilance will lead to over 230,000 parking tickets in the next fiscal year.
- As we noted yesterday, the Council lined up for a showdown with Michelle Rhee over enrollment estimates. With $27 million for the DCPS in the balance, this one isn’t going to go away quietly.
- Back in: Emancipation Day, charter school facilities, the Offices on Aging and Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs, and pre-kindergarten funding. Tossed out: the streetlight maintenance fee and 911 tax, and $20 million from the mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program.
- Victor Reinoso got spanked: the Council voted to reduce funding for the unpopular Deputy Mayor for Education from $4 million to $778,000.
- Many of Fenty’s proposed job cuts were kept, with the exception of dozens of parking enforcement officers and school crossing guards.
- No more sales tax holidays. The Council nixed the popular back-to-school and holiday-season sales tax break periods, a decision locally owned retail stores aren’t going to be happy with.