By James Wright, Special to the AFRO, jwright@afro.com

The District of Columbia Council recently passed the city’s 2019 $14.5 billion budget that deals with major issues facing Black residents.

On June 5, the D.C. Council passed the budget for the final time using a procedural tool known as the Budget Support Act or implementing the necessary legislation that makes the budget a reality. This was after the required votes that took place on May 15 and May 29.

Brandon Todd, who represents Ward 4 on the D.C. Council, said the 2019 budget will offer major benefits for residents. (Courtesy Photo)

D.C. Council member Robert White (D-At Large) said the 2019 budget is focused on helping residents of the District meet their needs.

“It is no secret that I’ve been very active fighting for affordable housing, education, workforce preparation and returning citizens,” White said.

The budget includes programs designed to help African Americans in the city.

Programs that White favors includes $234,163 that creates a team at the Office of the Attorney General to investigate and prosecute elder abuse and financial exploitation of seniors; a $100,000 salary scale for child development center employees; $276,00 to fund returning citizens initiatives which require the Bowser administration to contact homecoming inmates from other states six months to connect them with housing and employment; using the Federal Bureau of Prisons identification card as their official ID and a three-month transportation stipend when they come back to the city.

“I have been on the council for a year and eight months and I promised to collaborate when possible and work hard for our city’s residents,” he said.

The budget offers small businesses in the District up to $5,000 in a tax credit for firms that generate less than $2.5 million in revenue with the purpose of offsetting rising costs of real property taxes and that could lower or eliminate those businesses’ minimum franchise tax bill and possibly bring about a tax rebate.

The other program is $13 million for residents, churches and non-profits that face disproportionately high water bills due to impervious surface fees needed to fund infrastructure to redirect sewage overflows away from the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s budget proposed $6 million for this program.

The Rev. Willie Wilson of the Union Temple Baptist Church has been a leader in addressing the fees, saying in essence that they are designed to force Black churches out of the city.

Many Black District residents make their living or participate heavily in the arts. Under the leadership of D.C. Council members Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and David Grosso (I-At Large), the city’s sales tax will set aside 0.3 percent to fund the Commission for the Arts and Humanities and its grantmaking authority for approximately $30 million a year.

D.C. Council member Brandon Todd (D-Ward 4) told the AFRO that budget initiatives for seniors, the District’s infrastructure that needs repair and money to the education
system “will help residents across the city.”

“I am particularly proud of my bill that would provide free, diagnostic, preventive dental care coverage for seniors,” Todd said.

The budget that is locally generated will be sent to the mayor for approval, which is a given and then it will go to the U.S. Congress for review. If Congress says nothing, the budget becomes law Oct. 1.