The position of chief financial officer is one of critical importance for D.C., having been created as an independent office after a federal control board helped bring the city out of financial insolvency in the mid-1990s.

New revenue estimate figures for the District of Columbia released today paint an ever more bleak financial picture for the city. In a letter to the mayor and D.C. Council, District CFO Natwar Gandhi estimated FY2010 revenues are now down an additional $17.7 million, while 2011 looks worse still, with $49.4 million less than originally expected coming into District coffers. This is by no means the first time revenue estimates have been revised downward in…