Last week, the DC Council committees met to mark-up the FY 2015 budgets for the agencies under their purview. The mark-ups resulted in increased funding for a number of programs impacting low- and moderate-income residents, including programs for food and nutrition, education and homeless youth and single adults.
The Committee mark-ups are sent to the full Council for consideration in the final FY 2015 budget, which is set to be voted on May 28th.
Below is summary of some of the major changes, by committee, that affect low- and moderate-income residents.
Committee on Business, Consumer and Regulatory Affairs
The Committee cut $1.6 million from various training and employment programs within the Department of Employment Services and transferred those funds to the Film Incentive Fund, which subsidizes for film production companies to work in the District.
Committee on Finance and Revenue
The Committee devoted $150,000 to help outreach for the Earned Income Tax Credit. The Committee also recommended adoption of the Tax Transparency and Effectiveness Act, which would require the District to regularly review the effectiveness of tax incentive programs. The DC Tax Revision Commission had recommended creating such a review process.
Committee on Health
The Committee found savings in local Medicaid funding by $1 million and transferred it to the Office on Aging to fund community support services for seniors. The cut will also result in a $2.3 million decrease in Medicaid federal matching payments.
The Committee identified $821,000 in salary savings and devoted it to two programs in the Department of Health: peer-to-peer sex education for teens and cancer prevention activities. Lastly, the Committee cut a proposed $5 million increase in the school-based nurse program by $2 million to support teen pregnancy prevention programs.
Committee on Human Services
The Committee cut $5.8 million from job training in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program in order to repeal a cut in income assistance benefits for families who have received benefits for more than 60 months. The result would be that instead of another drop in benefits before FY 2016, families will remain at the same level for FY 2015 before being completely cut off in FY 2016. The Committee transferred $1.8 million from the Child and Family Service Agency so that families caring for a child aged 6 to 12 months would not have that time counted against their 60-month TANF time clock. Parents would only qualify for this exemption once.
The Committee also identified $1 million to support homeless services for youth, and it considered cutting $6.5 million from the Department of Youth and Rehabilitative Services (DYRS) and using those funds for services for homeless youth and families. The Chief Financial Officer did not confirm that the cut to DYRS could be made without affecting services, so it is unclear whether this funding shift will be possible.
Committee on Transportation and the Environment:
The Committee transferred $6.2 million for food and nutrition programs, including expanding summer food service, funding the Healthy Tots Act which will improve nutrition at child care centers, maintaining school-based food pantries, studying the link between health and education, and increasing the minimum monthly Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit from $15 to $30. This last change is pending because it is not clear if identified funding will be sufficient to cover the associated administrative costs.
The Committee also identified $1.3 million to freeze Circulator fares, that the Mayor had proposed to increase, for one year, and $731,000 in one-time funding to provide free Metrobus transportation for students for the first three weeks of the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). Lastly, the Committee transferred $4 million to fund charter school facilities.
Committee on Economic Development
The Committee identified $105,000 to help fund a new staff position to improve coordination of programs that provide basic skills and career training programs. The Committee identified $300,000 to increase the funding for the Home Purchase Assistance program for first-time homebuyers, including increasing the program’s maximum loan amount from $40,000 to $50,000.
The Committee reduced the LEAD safe program, which is almost entirely funded by the Housing Production Trust Fund, by $5.8 million. It used $4.1 million to fund affordable housing for seniors; $200,000 to conduct a study on how to develop housing for LGBT seniors; and $1.5 million to continue a Rapid Re-housing program for homeless individuals started this year. Rapid Re-housing provides short-term housing assistance and case management services.
The Committee transferred $1 million from the Office of Cable Television and used half to increase the Emergency Rental Assistance program (ERAP) which helps prevent homelessness by providing down payment assistance, first month’s rent, and rent in arrears for families facing eviction. The other $500,000 went to the Community Schools program at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.
Committee on Education
The Committee found savings in tuition payments to private schools serving DC students with special needs and used that to provide $200,000 for additional staff support for the McKinney Vento services for homeless students, $340,000 for improved learning disability assessments for adult learners, and $2.2 million more for the child care subsidy program. The Committee added funds to support a youth re-engagement center which would provide a single door for disconnected youth to get referrals for wrap-around programs.
In addition, $2 million in savings within the DCPS budget was shifted to schools with a large number of at-risk students that did not get their share of the new “at-risk” funding in the mayors’ budget. About 35 schools will get increases, with the largest amount going to Anacostia High School. An increase of $1.4 million in local funds was identified and recommended to help charter schools impacted by the elimination of the summer school weight in the school funding formula.
