Photo by ekelly80.

Good morning, Washington. Pay higher taxes, or cut even more services? That’s the decision facing the D.C. Council, as Chair Kwame Brown begins to meet with his colleagues to consider Mayor Vince Gray’s 2012 budget proposal. Gray’s proposal involves both — a 0.4 percent income tax increase on residents making $200,000 or more and $187 million in cuts to services — but Brown and others on the Council may block the tax increase, which, as Tim Craig reports, could be catastrophic for the city’s homeless services and would also affect things like city bus service. The Council votes on the budget in late May; it appears that Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander will be the one to cast the deciding vote on whether to accept Gray’s proposal as is or not.

Workin’ Overtime, Work Out: Kytja Weir reports on the overtime excesses of WMATA employees, including the top overtime logger: a construction inspector who made $32,089.52 in overtime wages over just the first two months of 2011. That inspector logged twice as many overtime hours (553.5) as normal hours (277.5). There are several other employees who put in over 300 overtime hours during the first two months of this year, many by safety workers, like track inspectors — which raises the question: can we really expect Metro workers to be ensuring train safety when they are working the equivalent of 16 hours every single day?

Rhee Returns: Michelle Rhee returns to the District today, to deliver a speech at a policy summit hosted by the American Federation for Children, a voucher and charter school advocacy group. The summit, which will also feature Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, will take place at the Washington Marriott at 1221 22nd Street NW; pro-union activists are expected to protest outside the hotel this afternoon.

Briefly Noted: A thorough recap of Georgetown University’s “Draconian policies” regarding on-campus sex education…Probe into alcohol board chairman Chuck Brodsky expands…Montgomery County straddling line between gang investigation and profiling…Names to be added to Vietnam Veterans Memorial…Maryland students to test human-powered helicopter.

This Day in DCist: Last year, “Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters was here in D.C. projecting a quote by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on buildings around town Friday and Saturday night.” The year before, we were comparing the District’s roads to Cormac McCarthy’s vision of American dystopia.