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|
GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS |
ONE JUDICIARY SQUARE
441 FOURTH STREET, N.W.
SUITE 1100
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20001
(202) 727-6224 |
Highlights of the Mayors FY 2000 Budget
SUMMARY
OVERALL MESSAGE
The Mayor's FY2000 budget will allow us to take our existing resources and expand our
government's ability to deliver services in the short-term and the long-term. It
represents the Williams Administration's vision for making the city work for everyone.
BIG PICTURE
- The time has come for us to make the difficult decisions that will put us in a
competitive position for the next millennium -- decisions about what the government can
and cannot do, should and should not do. Decisions that will determine, to a large extent,
whether our city succeeds or fails.
- The city is in a service crisis. Since coming into office, we've found the same level of
dysfunction throughout the government that existed in the CFO's organization. The now
famous tax file room is emblematic of conditions throughout our government. We must take
decisive steps NOW to rebuild our government from the ground up. Anything less would be
merely playing at the margins.
- This budget takes those tough decisions head on. It will put the District on a path to a
stable future, ensuring for years to come that Washington will be a capital all Americans
can be proud of. Most importantly, it strengthens our investment in four critical areas:
- Children
- Education
- Health Care
- Neighborhood Revitalization
- This budget sets out aggressive policy goals for our children, our schools, our health
care system, and our neighborhoods. It provides new investments our citizens want and
deserve. In order to meet these goals without exposing the District to the danger of
another financial collapse, we need a smaller, more efficient government. This will be
accomplished in three ways.
- Service Improvements the budget will reform service delivery and
make strategic capital investments to improve the District's capacity to provide prompt,
quality services to citizens.
- Workforce Investment the budget will invest in the workforce in a manner
that promotes productivity, training and more efficient service delivery.
- Managed Competition where appropriate, the budget will utilize managed
competition to allow our workers to make more money while providing residents better
service at reduced costs.
CHILDREN
Summary: This budget represents a historic investment in children, creating a
$33 million fund for out-of:school youth programs and devoting an additional $21.3 million
for new and expanded District programs to serve youth.
- The Child and Youth Investment Partnership will distribute $33 million for after
school programs, child care, abuse/neglect prevention programs, and other youth programs.
- The collaborative approach allows services to be delivered by community organizations
instead of government bureaucracies. This is part of a new paradigm of Public-Private
Partnerships that is a core principle of my administration.
- The goal is to create a seamless web of high quality services and challenging
opportunities to promote the healthy development of the city's young people through a
network of nurturing families, caring neighborhoods, and safe and enriching centers of
learning in and out of school.
- New and Expanded District Programs for Children. The budget includes more than
$21.3 million in capital improvements and operating expenditures to District agencies
whose hose missions impact services for children, youth and families. These funds will:
- Provide needed improvements to the foster care and child welfare transition, to better
serve our foster children and bring the function back under the control of the District.
We will provide funds to increase payments to foster parents, improve retention of social
workers, and implement management reforms to speed the process of getting foster children
into permanent homes.
- Add $13.5 million in new child care subsidies, which will support subsidized child care
for approximately 2,000 more children and increased child care subsidy rates.
- This represents a significant advance in child care, providing added capacity, improved
facilities, and expanded access to lower middle class families.
- This initiative will help mothers and fathers be good parents while making ends meet for
their families. Ultimately, strengthening our education system as a whole depends on
recognizing and supporting the role of parents as first teachers.
- Provide $500,000 to renovate public schools to deal with the needs of infants whose
mothers are still in school. The funds will help create lead free infant and day care
centers in the school.
- Focus on giving young people the tools they need to succeed in the world of work. It
will allow more young people to participate in the successful SummerWorks program, create
a youth internship program, and implement a Youth-to-Careers and Entrepreneurship program
to target high school dropouts and engage them in non-traditional educational and
vocational training.
- For the first time, our city will have an innovative, unified strategy to work
collaboratively with community organizations to improve the lives of children, youth, and
families.
- The future of Washington is vested in our children. Children are our most precious
resource and the wisest possible investment in our future.
- Unfortunately, we have lacked a unified strategy or a strong enough commitment from the
District government to assure that our children are safe, educated, happy and healthy. The
results are ominous:
- 2 out of 5 children in the District live in poverty
- 1 out of 10 children in the District die before the age of 3
- The District has the highest percentage ( 13.4%) of low- birth weight babies in the
nation
- 40% of our children do not graduate from high school
- 1 out of 4 of our young men spend time in prison
- The, 3,128 foster children in the District - more than 98 percent of whom are African
American -- languish in the child welfare system for an average of 3.5 to 4 years, more
than twice the national average.
- We face a moral imperative to renew and strengthen our commitment to children. We cannot
allow an entire generation of youth to slip into a world of permanent poverty and
hopelessness. This budget reflects that imperative, and follows through on the Mayor's
promise to devote $33 million toward children's programs.
EDUCATION
Summary: This budget makes a strategic investment in modernized classrooms, good
teachers, and expanded opportunities for higher education.
- If we are to build a stable and prosperous future for our city, we must have a well
educated and prepared workforce. More fundamentally, education is about giving children a
chance to fulfill their innate talents so that they can become all they are supposed to be
in life. This budget recognizes the paramount importance of education and makes a
strategic investment in our children's future.
- School Modernization and Construction. As a first step, this budget will invest
$364 million over the next six years in capital improvements for our city's crumbling
schools to provide children a safe, clean and effective learning environment. These funds
pay for modernization, renovation, new construction, and technology upgrades to prepare
students for the 21st Century.
- Our students deserve to learn under a roof that doesn't leak. They deserve schools where
bathrooms work and classrooms stay warm in the winter and cool during summer school.
- Teacher Salaries. The Mayor's budget provides a 5% increase in teacher salaries.
The fact is, we have by far the lowest teacher salaries in the region. It is hurting our
ability to compete for the best and brightest educators. A large percentage of the
District's teachers are fast approaching retirement age we need incentives to bring
dedicated young teachers into our school system. We owe our children nothing less.
- A first class education depends on first class schools, from kindergarten through
college. While the need to invest in primary and secondary education is critical, we must
also expand access to quality higher education for high school students.
- A proposal under consideration in Congress to allow District students in-state tuition
for schools in Maryland and Virginia is a good first step toward expanding options for our
students and retaining families in the District. But we must also improve opportunities
for higher learning at the University of the District of Columbia.
- Investing In UDC. A Historically Black, Land-grant University, and our only
public, four-year institution of higher learning, the University of the District of
Columbia has a critical mission for our city. As with schools across the country, we must
sharpen the mission of UDC and build it into a first class institution. This requires us
to take a look at the current structure and focus of UDC and to make difficult decisions
about its future.
- UDC's campus, located far from most of its potential student body, desperately needs an
overhaul costing in excess of $125 million. The Mayor has an innovative proposal to move
the campus east of the river, where it can fulfill its education mission at a reduced
cost. It will be a vital resource to the community, and can serve as a catalyst for the
implementation of an enterprise zone. The Mayor has included a request for $1 million to
study the feasibility of this option.
- Due to years of neglected maintenance, UDC is literally crumbling. It would cost the
District $6$ million more than UDC's annual subsidy just to stabilize the
buildings. That's $65 million not spent on improved classrooms? modern technology, or
academic programs designed to prepare students for the world of work. We need a better
option. A new campus east of the river is the best choice for our students.
- Additionally, the Mayor believes we must refocus the energies of UDC to concentrate on
technology and preparing students for the world of work. These changes are not easy, but
are necessary if we are to build UDC into a first class University that meets the needs of
its students and the community.
- For the first time, the District will invest $5 million a year in the endowment for UDC,
to provide for the long term health and prosperity of the University.
HEALTH CARE
Summary: This budget will provide insurance to an additional 39,00() residents
who currently lack coverage. This will reduce the uninsured rate from 17 percent to 8
percent, making Washington a national leader. The budget will fundamentally restructure
the health care delivery system to provide more access and better quality to underserved
communities, particularly low- income families.
- Expanded Coverage. The centerpiece of the Mayor's Health Care initiative for the
city is to guarantee the availability of comprehensive health insurance coverage to every
District resident with a family income at or below twice the federal poverty level. This
will cut the uninsured rate by more than half, from 17% to 8%, putting us in the top ten
percent of States, and first among benchmark cities. Washington can and should become a
deader in health care coverage.
- Primary Care The second component of the Mayor's Health Care plan is a new
emphasis on primary care services, including substance abuse treatment. Although our city
has enough overall primary care capacity, some areas of the city are dramatically
underserved. The Mayor's budget will work to solve this inequity, building two replacement
primary care facilities in Wards 7 and 8. Through insurance coverage and capital
investments, this budget will greatly increase access and resources available for primary
care service to District residents.
- Strengthening the Safety Net. The third priority in this area is to strengthen
the health care delivery system and the "safety net." This proposal begins to
achieve this goal by reducing the number of uninsured in the District, thereby reducing
the burden of uncompensated care on health care providers. In addition, this proposal
maintains funding for the uninsured. The proposal contains two accounts to fund
contractual arrangements with the Public Benefits Corporation (PBC). These contracts will
reimburse the PBC for services provided at D.C. General Hospital and the clinics to
individuals who remain uninsured.
- Substance Abuse Treatment and Prevention. Substance abuse treatment and
prevention is also an important part of this initiative. The health care restructuring
proposal includes the addition of substance abuse services as part of the standard managed
care benefits package. Thus, newly insured and current Medicaid enrollees will have access
to substance abuse services.
- The District spends about one-third of its budget on health care related services.
Despite this spending, the current health care system in the District fails to meet the
needs of many residents. The District has higher than national average rates of infant
mortality, homicide' and communicable diseases including HIV/AIDS. An alarming 17 percent
of our citizens - 80,000 residents - lack any health insurance at all.
NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION
Summary: A fourth priority of this budget is neighborhood revitalization. This
budget seeks to vastly upgrade the District's ability to address key neighborhood issues
including jobs, affordable housing and clean streets.
- The Mayor's budget includes a three pronged approach to neighborhood revitalization:
- First, the budget provides for needed upgrades in the District's internal capacity to
address neighborhood issues by putting more resources into the understaffed Offices of
Planning and Zoning.
- Second, under this budget, we will dramatically step up street cleaning efforts and
begin to coordinate cleaning efforts with community and private sector groups.
- Third, we will work through the National Capital Revitalization Corporation to leverage
new investments in business and housing investments that will renew our
neighborhoods, one block at a time
- Additionally, the Mayor's budget includes $284,000 in capital for the Commission on Arts
and Humanities to fund the installation of murals, sculpture and other artworks at more
than 20 public sites including city streets and parks, the Metro system, city government
buildings and offices, and other public settings. Art respects and improves the physical
character of our neighborhoods as well as reaffirming and strengthening the District as
the economic hub of the National Capital Area.
- To be prosperous, a city must have a strong and vital core, and we are moving forward
with plans to ensure that our downtown remains an engine of economic growth. But economic
development downtown cannot come at the expense of our city's greatest treasure the
many diverse and unique neighborhoods from which is woven the fabric of our social and
cultural life.
- The District has many great neighborhoods, each with a rich history. traditions, and
identity. Good people raise their families here. They worship, educate their children, and
relax with friends -- all in our neighborhoods. If our city is to prosper, we must have
healthy, vital neighborhoods.
INVESTING IN OUR WORKFORCE
Summary: The Mayor's budget proposes a series of reforms designed to invest in
our workforce, promoting productivity, training, and more efficient service delivery. For
the first time? the District will have a coherent strategy for developing a highly skilled
and satisfied workforce. Specifically, the budget will address the pay disparity between
union and non-union employees, link pay to performance, and improve training.
- Equal Pay for Equal Work. The Mayor proposes to eliminate the growing disparity
between union and non-union pay schedules. This disparity is destructive to morale and
productivity, and is unfair to workers.
- Pay parity will be achieved by FY 2002, beginning with a 3.8 percent base pay increase
in FY 2000. In addition, the Mayor proposes a 2.2 percent performance bonus fund for
non-union workers, bringing the total increase to 6 percent in FY 2000. The effect of this
proposal is to link part of employees' compensation to performance while, at the same
time, achieving pay parity.
- Gainsharing. We must develop a mechanism to link pay to performance. As a first
step, the Mayor's budget proposes a gainsharing initiative for certain programs that have
measurable outcomes. When employees reduce costs through reengineering or other means and
increase productivity, they are awarded a performance bonus for their efforts. By working
with the unions, we can use gainsharing initiatives to improve services and reduce costs.
- Training. The employees of District government are our most important partners in
building a government that is more responsive to the needs of citizens. Therefore it is
critical that the workforce is properly trained to do their job. Under the Mayor's budget,
District employees will receive additional training to enhance their ability to provide
quality services. This proposed workforce investment is a long-term strategic approach to
improving management and compensating the workforce for a job well done.
MANAGED COMPETITION
Summary: In order to provide prepare our city for the 21st Century, the Mayor
proposes to introduce competition into our government, where appropriate, allowing our
workers to earn more money while providing residents better services at reduced cost.
- Managed competition is a process whereby public and private entities compete for the
provision of services. Cities across the country have used managed competition to improve
service quality, efficiency, as well as reduce costs. The Mayor has a commitment to
working together with our labor unions to inject competition into certain government
services. We will give our workers new opportunities for increased training, performance
incentives, and the ability to rethink their work.
- The assumption behind managed competition is that in most cases our workers are the best
prepared, most experienced people for the job. Given the monopolistic nature of
government, however, they lack incentives to go the extra mile required to provide the
highest quality service at the lowest cost.
- Under this plan, workers will be allowed to organize themselves and bid for a contract
to deliver certain government services. They will receive training and technical support
to help them get organized and to prepare them for a competitive bidding process.
Contracts will be structured with incentives for efficiency and quality.
- The Mayor recognizes that oftentimes workers know better than management how to improve
services and reduce costs. We will empower them to rethink and redesign the way they do
their work. If they can cut costs, they should be rewarded. If they can increase
productivity, they should be rewarded. If they can improve service quality, they should be
rewarded.
- Over the course of the next several years, a variety of government services from
rat control to litter can distribution could be "competed" out. Street
sign replacement, for example, is an ideal program for managed competition.
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