The D.C. Council on Wednesday gave final approval to the city’s $21 billion budget for fiscal 2025, voting to fund more than 600 additional housing vouchers for residents at risk of homelessness ahead of a contentious debate over the future of the District’s sports betting program.
Despite a growing overall budget, city leaders have debated spending priorities as revenue growth has slowed, an issue compounded by the expiration of pandemic-era federal aid that helped city leaders temporarily boost services for residents in need.
Two weeks ago, during the council’s first vote on the budget, lawmakers approved tax increases beyond those that were initially proposed by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) to stave off significant cuts, including hikes on the tax that businesses pay toward the Paid Family Leave program and the real property tax rate on homes worth more than $2.5 million. Despite this year’s austere budget, the council on May 29 allocated additional money toward housing initiatives while enhancing the earned-income tax credit and establishing a new child tax credit.
While lawmakers on Wednesday made some last-minute changes, much of the budget remained intact from the first vote, even as housing advocates unsuccessfully sought additional tax increases to generate more money for safety-net programs such as Emergency Rental Assistance.
The most robust debate centered on whether it was appropriate to pass a bill to dramatically reshape the city’s struggling sports wagering program through the budget process, offering less opportunity for scrutiny. That bill, introduced earlier this year by council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (I-At Large), aims to repair the city’s mobile sports betting market by offering pathways for major betting operators to partner with local sports teams.
