Revisions to the FY 2009 Budget
The FY 2009 budget, transmitted to Congress in June 2008, represents the District’s thirteenth consecutive balanced budget proposal. Because of declining revenue estimates, the District subsequently revised the budget in order to maintain balance.
First FY 2009 Gap-Closing Plan
On September 24, 2008, the Chief Financial Officer issued a revised quarterly revenue estimate, certifying a shortfall of $130.7 million in FY 2009 Local Fund revenues. On October 16, 2008, the Mayor proposed a Gap-Closing Plan that included a combination of spending cuts and additional one-time revenues.
On November 10, 2008, the Council adopted a final gap-closing plan that approved the Mayor’s proposal with amendments. The Council’s plan also cut agency spending by an additional $46 million, and transferred this amount to an Operating Cash Reserve. Of the $46 million, $10 million was designated as a contingency fund for health programs such as Medicaid and the Alliance.
Second FY 2009 Revenue Gap
On December 19, 2008, the Chief Financial Officer issued a subsequent revised quarterly revenue estimate. This estimate certified a further decline in projected revenues, and a second (additional) revenue shortfall of $127.1 million in FY 2009. The combined effect of the September and February revenue estimates is shown on the table below.
Table 1: Local Fund Revenue Estimates: Original to Current
| May 2008 estimate |
$5,562,900,000 |
$5,831,700,000 |
| Sept 08 revision |
($130,700,000) |
($152,200,000) |
| Dec 08 revision |
($127,100,000) |
($303,800,000) |
| Feb 09 revision |
($135,700,000) |
($346,300,000) |
| Total effect of revisions |
($393,500,000) |
($802,300,000) |
| Revisions as % of May estimate |
-7.6 % |
-13.8% |
The Operating Cash Reserve and the
budgetary surplus from FY 2008 are sufficient to offset the existing revenue gap for FY 2009. The OCFO is scheduled to publish the next quarterly revision to revenue estimates in late February; these estimates will bind the proposed budget.
Effect of Gap-Closing on Budget Tables
The effect of the gap-closing actions on agency budgets is summarized in this
FY 2009 Budget Rescission Report (PDF). In addition, the following reports summarize FY 2008 Actuals and FY 2009 Approved Budgets (including gap-closing) for all District agencies.
Agencies 
