It’s a new year, and there’s a new DC budget on the horizon. Mayor Fenty will release his proposed fiscal year 2011 budget on April 1, 2010. While April may seem like a long way away, much of the important work to determine how much funding will be provided for education, housing, healthcare, and other services is happening right now.
Here are some ways you can get involved in the process:
Advocacy Tip #1: Tell the Mayor what you think.
As we wrote last week, this is going to be another tough budget year. To deal with falling tax collections and expiring stimulus funds, the Mayor’s office has asked all agencies to identify possible cuts of up to 10 percent from the current year’s budget. The City Administrator’s Office soon will start working with agencies to determine which of the cuts will be made and how much funding will be kept for services like child care and libraries next year.
Now is a great time to check in with agencies and City Administrator Neil Albert to learn what they are proposing and, most importantly, to let them know what you think should be included ‘ and preserved ‘ in the FY 2011 budget.
Advocacy Tip #2: Prepare to Testify at a Council Performance Oversight Hearing.
Starting in February, the DC Council will hold oversight hearings for every agency to determine how well they performed last fiscal year and how well they are doing so far this year. Testifying at a performance oversight hearing for an agency you care about is a great way to highlight programs that are working well and areas that can be improved. The schedule for the hearings has not yet been set, but they should be posted to the Council’s website within the next few weeks.
Here are some questions you may want to consider when developing your testimony, with some tips about where to find helpful information:
-
- Did the budget for your program change from the previous year? Check out DCFPI’s budget spreadsheet and issue area summaries or go straight to the approved budget.
-
- If the budget decreased, what impact did this have on services? (e.g., were fewer people able to receive services? Were certain benefits cut? Did it take longer to receive services?) This is a great opportunity to share your experiences or the experiences of others who use DC’s services.
- What can be done to improve the performance of the agency? The Mayor’s office recently released performance plans, which outline the goals for each agency and how agencies’ performance will be measured in FY 2010.
