Events D.C., the city’s sports and convention authority, is sitting on a pretty sizable pool of unspent money, more than $180 million in all. And now the D.C. Council is claiming a chunk of it, hoping to use it to pay for critical repairs to the city’s aging stock of public housing.

The Council on Tuesday approved the city’s $15.5 billion budget, part of which includes a creative (if legally contestable) plan to repurpose $49 million of Events D.C.’s reserves, half of which would be used to pay for repairs on thousands of units of public housing.

It’s a small down payment on what the D.C. Housing Authority, which manages more than 8,000 units of public housing across the city, says is more than $2.2 billion worth of repairs that need to be completed to keep many of those units habitable. (And it’s not just D.C.—it’s a national problem too.)

“It’s pretty clear to everyone the authority could use the money,” said D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson after Tuesday’s vote, who also criticized what he said was “divestment” of the federal government in public housing.

But the fate of plan he hatched will remain in limbo for at least another few weeks, largely because of concerns raised by D.C. Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey DeWitt, who argued in a recent letter that money raised by Events D.C. through taxes on hotel stays and restaurant meals has to be put towards paying off debt incurred from the construction of the Washington Convention Center, which Events D.C. operates.

If the Council tries to take the money anyhow, DeWitt could wield a significant weapon: he could refuse to certify the budget, forcing lawmakers to redo it. It could also lead to a downgrade in the city’s enviable bond rating, DeWitt warned, making it more expensive to borrow money.

Those threats spooked at least one lawmaker on Tuesday, who spoke in favor of the need of putting money into fixing public housing while expressing concerns with how the Council was going about getting the money.

“If we take some of that money… could that jeopardize our current good standing with the bond market?” asked At-large D.C. Council member David Grosso, who is an attorney.

Mendelson said he had received his own legal advice and believes he is on solid footing, and that if DeWitt disagrees, the matter may have to be settled in court. But he also framed the issue as one of the D.C. Council’s power of the purse, especially as it pertains to money not being spent for its intended purpose. He said Events D.C. is taking in roughly $60 million more a year than it needs to service its debt.

“We need to assert our authority as appropriators,” he said. “Where there is excess money not needed for debt, the mere argument we can’t touch it is not appropriate.”

As for DeWitt, a spokesman said he has “not changed his position,” but is also “reviewing legal issues that have been raised.”

The D.C. Council also found another small pot of money for fixes to public housing in Ward 1: funds from a $46 million tax abatement for The Line Hotel in Adams Morgan that some officials say the developers are no longer eligible for.

Council Slashes Hospital Subsidy — But By Less Than Expected

As part of Tuesday’s budget vote, the Council also slashed a proposed operating subsidy for the United Medical Center, the only hospital east of the Anacostia River — and one beset by financial problems.

Mayor Muriel Bowser had requested $40 million for the hospital, a higher subsidy than the hospital had received in recent years. But Councilmember Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7), who chairs the Council’s health committee, slashed the subsidy to $15 million, saying he was “not willing to just continue to provide a blank check to the hospital operators.”

But Gray’s cut prompted an outcry from nurses at UMC and other activists, who said it would lead to a dramatic decrease in services and leave the two wards east of the Anacostia River—which are the poorest in the city—without a functioning hospital.

To soften the blow, Mendelson increased the subsidy to $19 million, and on Tuesday Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White proposed adding another $3 million to make it an even $22 million—just over half of what Bowser had initially requested.

“We have living people in the hospital right now that need services,” he said. “If we remove doctors, nurses, services and staff—and faith—this hospital is dead.”

Gray defended the cuts, saying the hospital has been mismanaged and that it could live within the $15 million annual taxpayer subsidy he was offering until a new hospital is built on the St. Elizabeths campus, a new facility not expected to be done until 2023. He said a majority of its hospital beds are empty, and that it could still operate an emergency room and psychiatric services with the money he was offering.

And while some of his colleagues agreed that UMC had been mismanaged, they were unwilling to make such a large cut to its subsidy.

“We are not arguing about mismanagement,” said At-large Councilmember Elissa Silverman. “What is at stake is are we going to have a hospital that serves residents east of the river, and are we going to make a hospital that is a hazard to its patients?”

White’s move to increase UMC’s subsidy passed on a 10-2 vote.

Other Notable Issues, Vying For Support

• After a fierce debate, the Council agreed to relocate Banneker Senior High School at the site of the shuttered Shaw Middle School and move Shaw to Banneker’s old building.
• At the behest of At-large Councilmember Anita Bonds, the Council increased funding for the Housing Preservation Fund (which helps preserve exist affordable housing) to $11.5 million, from $7.5 million. The fund, which was created last year by Mayor Muriel Bowser, had something of a rollercoaster ride: Bowser wanted to increase its funding from $10 million to $15 million, but Mendelson eliminated it altogether. After pushback from housing advocates, he restored it at $7.5 million. The increase Bonds got came at the expense of the Housing Production Trust Fund, the city’s biggest pot of money to help build affordable housing. It will lose $4 million, leaving it at $116 million.
• The Council signed off on a proposal to scale back a two-decade-old incentive program for tech companies, investing the money saved into homeless services and early education programs. The city’s CFO had recently criticized the incentive program as largely ineffective on attracting tech companies to the city.
• Despite the fact that the Council scaled back some of Bowser’s budget priorities—including free D.C. Circulator rides and a permanent tax credit for child care costs—her chief of staff said on Tuesday that she was likely to sign the spending plan.