After weeks of delays, and unsuccessful attempts to reverse a continuing resolution that decimates the District’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget, the Bowser administration recently rolled out a budget proposal touted as the ideal response to an economic situation created by President Donald J. Trump and congressional Republicans.

If approved, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Fiscal Year 2025 supplemental budget will – as the continuing resolution requires — trigger more than $400 billion in cost savings between now and Oct. 1. Those cuts, however, won’t jeopardize public education and facilities, public safety, and out-of-school time programming scheduled for the summer.

Also left unscathed is summertime youth programming, much like what hundreds of District youth recently experienced.

“We had over 700 young people over the course of the weekend dancing and having a good time in a positive way, which…is what we want all summer,” Lindsey Appiah, D.C. deputy mayor for public safety and justice, told The Informer in reference to Holiday Hype , a three-night event that D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) hosted at Banneker Recreation Center during the Memorial holiday weekend.

On the nights of May 23-25, youth who spent their free time at Banneker Recreation Center enjoyed hours of games, music, and camaraderie while watching the NBA playoffs.

Those activities took place during a weekend when the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) enforced a curfew at the Wharf, the site of large youth gatherings and disturbances over the last couple of weekends. Despite those efforts, revelers near 14th and U Streets in Northwest reported similar activity last weekend when hundreds of young people converged on the intersection .

Even so, Appiah continued to focus on what she described as a positive outcome, telling The Informer that there will be more in store for young people this summer.

“Our summer planning has been going on for months and months,” Appiah said. “So whether it’s the [summer youth employment program], where our young people work with our schools and a host of other programs we have planned for D.C. Housing Authority, which is DPR, we’ll continue to look for ways to make sure our kids are engaged just like we did this weekend.”

Budget Proposals Focusing on Stability, Cost Savings and Growth

Last month, as the District of Columbia Local Funds Act lay dormant in the House, the Bowser administration endeavored to close a $1.1 billion budget gap caused by the continuing resolution with a 6% increase — more than $600 million — to the Fiscal Year 2025 local spending cap.

With nearly $400 million left to cut, Bowser announced a hiring freeze that incurred $63 million in savings. Her Fiscal Year 2025 supplemental budget proposal includes that reduction along with an additional $175 million in savings created through reductions to the workforce investment funds and the delay of collective bargaining agreements for police and D.C. government attorneys. Bowser also shifted more than $200 million in expenditures to Fiscal Year 2026 and subsequent fiscal years.

Ultimately, officials captured $117 million of excess special purpose and dedicated tax revenue, which played a part in helping city officials address $167 million in budget obligations while ensuring the availability of $180 million toward the end of the fiscal year.

“There’s more than one benchmark we had,” City Administrator Kevin Donahue told D.C. council members during the Bowser administration’s budget presentation at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on the morning of May 27. “The one that was very hard for me, was making sure we had a budget for 2025 that complied with the spending levels and spending authority outlined in the current resolution.”

In the realm of public safety, the Fiscal Year 2025 supplemental budget cuts $3 million allocated for community-based organizations that facilitate safe passage programming during the summer. Appiah, whose office coordinates safe passage efforts, said that she made this decision mindful that fewer public and public charter schools are open during the summer.

“Our first priority is making sure that all of our routes are covered for summer school,” Appiah said. “And then also because it’s on [a] fiscal year [timeline], not school year, that we have the coverage we need in August and September when school starts.”

For more than two hours, Appiah and other deputy mayors — including deputy mayor for planning and economic development Nina Albert, as well as deputy mayor for health and human services Wayne Turnage — sat at a roundtable as Donahue, Bowser and Jenny Reed, director of the Office of Budget and Performance Management, explained elements of the Fiscal Year 2025 supplemental budget and, later, their Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal — what they dubbed “Grow D.C.”

While, in years past, administration officials breezed through the supplemental portion of the budget, the trio delved into an unconventional plan that Donahue said jelled together not too long ago.

“We had to also make sure that we had enough money to pay our rent bills,” Donahue continued. “We had to make sure we had resources on hand to meet our obligations, such as repaying reserves. So … we had to really work very closely with the [chief financial officer’s] team to be able to have what is now a balanced financial plan.”

During the earlier part of March, as the Bowser administration conducted budget town halls in preparation for the release of the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, House Republicans approved the continuing resolution that threw the District’s budget season in limbo. By that time, Chief Financial Officer Glen Lee released a budget projection showing a loss of $1 billion in local revenue over four fiscal years due to Trump administration-induced federal government furloughs.

The mayhem would continue for months as Bowser, members of the D.C. Council, and even D.C. residents made their way to the Hill to lobby House Republicans without much success.

In April, not long after the official opening of Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health , Trump and House Republicans advanced a spending bill that cuts federal matching funds for Medicaid, much to the detriment of the District and states that would have to reduce benefits or narrow eligibility. This development unfolded as Bowser continued to herald the Washington Commanders’ return to RFK campus, the renovation of Capital One Arena, and other Downtown-oriented capital improvement projects as catalysts for economic development.

On Tuesday morning, Bowser built upon that assertion with her “Grow D.C.” plan, telling her council counterparts that she embarked on this endeavor asking if her budget would: keep people and families in D.C. while attracting new residents; create economic activity to fund city services and programs; and attract new businesses that spur job creation for D.C. residents.

“If the answer to those questions is no, that’s something that we look very hard at to see if we need to continue to do it,” Bowser told members of the D.C. Council who attended her budget presentation. “A big tenet of our growth strategy is to double down on business attraction and incentives, equaliz[ing] some of our attraction dollars. We recognize how important this industry is to the District’s economy and how much trouble it’s in.”

In total, the Fiscal Year 2026 budget amounts to $13 billion in general funds (a 1.6% increase from Fiscal Year 2025) and $2.6 billion in capital funds.

For Fiscal Years 2026-2031, the District has a total of $9.7 million in capital funds at its disposal. With the largest share of those funds going to transportation, infrastructure, and public schools, the Bowser administration faces the dilemma of whether to accept the solicitation of private entities eager to finance the construction of a new correctional facility.

In addition to a new football stadium and basketball arena, Bowser’s Grow D.C. plan includes enhancements and renovations to the National Theatre, Lincoln Theatre and Howard Theatre. It also revives the Qualified High Technology Companies tax incentive and expands opportunities for commercial BINGO, live poker and Blackjack tournaments.

As announced last month , Bowser’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal fully funds early child care subsidies, along with the District’s Pre-K Enhancement and Expansion Program (PKEEP) and Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund.

It would also fund high-impact tutoring, along with 30 school modernizations, and the replacement and modernization of technology equipment and IT infrastructure in D.C. public schools.

In its current form, Bowser’s proposal would also provide $400,000 in stipends for DPR volunteer coaches, support the modernization of 22 recreation centers, pools and parks, and provide funds for recreation center HVAC replacements, playground equipment upgrades, and roof repairs.

Much to the chagrin of some constituents, advocates and council members, Bowser’s Fiscal Year 2026 proposal aims to induce economic and commercial development by: narrowing eligibility for the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act; repealing Initiative 82 ; pausing Building Energy Performance Standards and Net Zero requirements; and establishing sales tax holidays for local restaurants, and waiving business license fees and penalty waivers.

Other cuts and adjustments — made in response to rising inflation and operational costs — include: reduction in affordable housing maintenance; changes to Medicaid eligibility that moves more than 25,000 Medicaid recipients to a new health plan supported with federal, not local, dollars; a pause to cost-of-living adjustments for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, also known as TANF; and reductions in D.C.’s paid family leave offerings via a two-week limit for medical leave related to caretaking responsibilities, a waiting period for family and personal medical leave, and a 12-week work commitment upon returning from paid family leave.

On Tuesday, Bowser also revealed that her budget wouldn’t fund yet-to-be-executed child tax credits or baby bonds — programs championed by D.C. Councilmembers Kenyan McDuffie (I-At large) and Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), respectively.

“While we were able to make a lot of these really important investments … we did have to right-size some programs and we did have to stop some programs that hadn’t started,” Bowser said. “We know that these are important policy matters and we hope that we can get back to them once the growth agenda is in.”

D.C. Council Members and Community Members Weigh In

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) was the sole legislator who didn’t attend Bowser’s budget rollout, due to what McDuffie called a prior engagement.

Responses to Bowser’s Fiscal Year 2025 supplemental budget and Fiscal Year 2026 budget ran the gamut, with D.C. Councilmember Robert White (D-At large) requesting specificity about non-personnel service reductions outlined in the supplemental budget and D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson (I-At large) asking about overtime spending for police officers.

D.C. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) questioned how the Bowser administration would revisit hiring freezes at the end of Fiscal Year 2025. D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) brought up concerns about funding for literacy programs, while D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) mulled over what would happen to the supplemental budget if the House actually fixes the continuing resolution and restores D.C.’s Fiscal Year 2025 funds.

At large Councilmember White and Bowser had what at times became a tense exchange about the executive and legislative branches’ ability to collaboratively identify cost savings, like what White proposed during the last budget cycle.

“One of the things I fought hard for was a financial performance review so that we can uncover where we could save money in our government as we headed into more difficult times,” White said. “That was a concept that got buy-in from the council, the CFO, the auditor. We had trouble getting buy-in from the administration, and I think D.C. has shown that there’s room for us to work together on an audit across government to see where we might be able to save money again.”

Noticeably missing from the discussion was a Ward 8 D.C. council member. Since the council expelled Trayon White from his seat , Ward 8 has been without council representation, other than at-large members of the council.

However, Bowser said she’s been keeping her eyes on Ward 8 throughout the budget process.

“We, of course, stay engaged with stakeholders,” she told The Informer. “The at-large council members, of course, represent all eight wards, and I represent Ward 8. So we’re very focused on continuing our investments in Ward 8.”

As Ward 8 community members count down the weeks and days to a special election for their next council member, they, too, are watching budget deliberations and growing louder in their demands for investments.

“For the last couple of years, we’ve seen so many budget cuts and…money being rolled back and put into other places, not even in things that benefit us,” said Selina Mathis, a peer support specialist and youth advocate who’s been working in Ward 8 for nearly four years. “We’re seeing more high rises and luxury condos and expensive restaurants…but the money that we need to rehabilitate our youth and to prevent these instances are being snatched from us.”

On May 21, Mathis counted among more than 100 people who converged on Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School in Southeast for a Ward 8 special election candidate forum. For a couple hours that evening, she listened as the candidates — Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Salim Adofo, Mike Austin, Sheila Bunn, and an expelled Trayon White — promoted their platform and weighed in on the issues of education, housing, and public safety before an audience of public and public charter school students.

Mathis, just days removed from a youth melee that had the Wharf on lockdown, said that candidates’ comments left much to be desired during a once-in-a-lifetime budget season.

“When we were talking about public safety, I would have liked to have heard how any of those candidates dealt with the situation that unfolded recently or how they would come together with other council members to tackle that situation,” Mathis said.

“I didn’t really hear ‘We need to build more recreation [centers] or have 24-hour places that our students can go.’ It was just unrealistic things that were being spoken about. I didn’t really hear [anything about] the laws that are written and … holding our city accountable [to] the things that are already written.”

With Fiscal Year 2025 and Fiscal Year 2026 funds for high-impact tutoring and other academic programming intact for the time being, some people, like Raven Kirk, said they’re maintaining hope that District families will benefit from the Bowser administration’s budget and policy proposals — especially as it relates to academic enrichment.

“Parents want to make sure that their children are still supported in schools without having to worry about transportation and things of that nature,” said Kirk, 25, a CityTutor DC member who accepted a full-time teaching role with Center City Public Charter School. “I know a lot of tutoring happens after school, and some parents may not be able to come straight to the school and pick their kids up, so now they have a tutoring service where it’s inside the classroom.”

As a high-impact tutor, Kirk tutored third and fourth graders in mathematics and science, and later moved on to the fifth grade, where she helped students with their humanities-related coursework. She said sitting in the classroom during instruction helped her support teachers, and ultimately improve her pedagogy as an up-and-coming instructor in the District.

“Before I started tutoring, I wasn’t really into sports,” Kirk said. “But I started getting into sports the more I see students excited to learn about it and just tailoring sports to math, science, and the humanities sector. Incorporating their interest with academic work honestly created their excitement to learn. It enhanced it.”