The number of traffic cameras in D.C. could more than triple over the next few years while spending on government programs and hiring will be scaled back under a proposed 2024 budget Mayor Muriel Bowser unveiled on Wednesday.

Her $19.7 billion spending plan — $10.6 billion of which is for local programs, the remainder for federal initiatives like Medicaid — remains largely flat compared to last year’s budget, reflecting growing costs spurred by inflation, shrinking revenues from the persistent trend of remote work that has hammered downtown D.C. office buildings, and the tapering of historic federal aid from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I haven’t seen these types of circumstances since I was a young councilmember following the last recession,” said Bowser as she began her presentation to the D.C. Council at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Wednesday morning. “The issues are different that are causing these pressures, but the tough choices we have to make are the same. Our resources are shrinking while at the same time our fixed costs are increasing.”

Her budget “acknowledges the economic realities we face,” according to a senior city official, and represents only the second time in her two terms in office that spending hasn’t grown. It also marks a dramatic shift from last year’s budget, which grew by 14% due in large part to billions of dollars of federal aid, and kicks off what officials say is a $1.7 billion gap between revenues and expenses that’s expected over the next four years.

That gap is being fueled by higher pay for teachers, police, and firefighters under collective bargaining agreements; the impact of inflation on construction costs for schools and libraries; increases in per-pupil spending for the city’s public and charter schools; revenues that are expected to be $390 million lower than expected over the next four years; and the end of some $8 billion in federal largesse doled out during the pandemic.

Bowser’s proposed budget contemplates closing the gap by pulling $275 million from the city’s rainy day accounts (which as of this month had more than $1.6 billion in them) and making cuts in government programs and hiring totaling $373 million. She wants to eliminate 749 of the 3,500 vacant positions across the D.C. government, and is proposing eliminating three of the city’s six Circulator bus routes and trimming $3 million from the $16 million budget for some violence interruption programs.

More controversially, Bowser wants to use more than a half-billion dollars worth of revenue from a planned expansion of traffic cameras — which target speeding, red light-running, stop sign violations, and more — to help close the four-year budget gap. Under a traffic safety plan approved by the D.C. Council, the number of cameras across the city is expected to leap from 140 now to almost 500 in the coming years. But Bowser is also creating a task force to consider options of how to mitigate the cost of steep traffic camera fines on low-income drivers (including a possible sliding scale of fines depending on income) and how traffic camera ticket data could better be used to target the worst drivers.

As part of her proposed budget, Bowser is proposing an increase in the existing tax breaks for property owners who convert underutilized downtown office buildings into housing as part of her broader plan to bring 15,000 new residents to the area. She also wants to create a centralized online portal for afterschool activities, spend additional funds on upgrading and maintaining school HVAC systems and quickly renovating designated splash pads in parks, put $115 million over two years into repairing public housing units, continue the plan to build a new annex to the D.C. Jail, extend the $20,000 hiring incentive for new police officers, launch a new paramedic school for D.C. residents, fund a bill that will make it easier for people to have their criminal records sealed or expunged, expand the network of bus-only lanes throughout the city, and build more pickleball courts.

Still, the prevailing message Bowser gave lawmakers is that the days of flush budgets has likely come to an end, and many programs and initiatives will see little new funding — and in some cases cuts. “What you will see from us is scant new spending proposals,” she said.

That scaling-back includes the mayor’s traditional priority of building more affordable housing; she proposes putting $100 million towards it, a significant decrease from the more than $500 million that was allocated last year. (Federal funding facilitated that spike in spending.) City officials also say that the council’s 13 members made an estimated $2.5 billion worth of budget requests of her, not all of which could be funded. That could spark pushback from the council, which has the ultimate authority to change and approve the city’s budget.

At her presentation on Wednesday, a number of lawmakers started identifying concerns they had with Bowser’s proposed budget. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) pushed back on Bowser’s plan to use the half-billion dollars in expected revenue from the new traffic cameras to balance the overall budget; he said that current law would set aside almost all of that money for traffic safety improvements. (Bowser is proposing repealing that law.)

Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) called Bowser’s proposal for $8 million for emergency rental assistance “shocking”; the current budget for the program is $43 million, and it was all spent halfway through the current fiscal year. Nadeau said there is still extensive need for the rental assistance (advocacy groups asked for $50 million), but Bowser disagreed.

“We looked at the needs in the city,” said Bowser, noting that funding for rental assistance had spiked during the pandemic. “Those circumstances have changed.”

Councilmember Robert White (D-At Large) said that Bowser’s proposal for $115 million to repair public housing units was “wildly unrealistic” relative to the existing needs, while some advocates objected to Bowser’s proposal to decrease requirements for affordable housing for developers who get tax breaks to convert office buildings into residential units.

There’s also expected to be continued debate over the fate of police officers in schools; as she did over the last two years, Bowser is again proposing that the council repeal its bill that gradually pulls police out of schools through 2025. (Four councilmembers have already introduced a stand-alone bill to do just that, while another has a new bill to create an alternative to police in schools.)

Another likely flashpoint is the council’s bill to make Metrobus free within the city. Bowser did not fund it in her budget, and says the council has underestimated just how much the program would cost. Some lawmakers, though, accuse her and the city’s chief financial officer of playing games with the proposed funding. And there could be significant debate over school funding; lawmakers say Bowser is ignoring a new law that would largely prohibit cuts to school-based budgets.

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson criticized cuts to a number of agencies and initiatives, saying they reveal “budget choices that set back recovery for low- and middle-income residents.”

The council will have the next two months to scour Bowser’s budget proposal and offer changes to it before planned votes in May.

This post was updated with additional details and quotes from Bowser’s presentation to the D.C. Council.