What to know as DC Council debates budget

The D.C. Council has spent Monday debating the District’s budget. That hearing has been going on since the morning with some very big issues and programs facing severe cuts.

Initiative 82

One of the biggest issues on the table is Initiative 82, which voters approved for the minimum wage for tipped workers be the same for other workers.

Twice since 2018, D.C. residents have approved voter initiatives to pay tipped workers the same minimum wage. In her budget proposal, Mayor Muriel Bowser included language repealing the law.

Chairman Phil Mendelson told reporters on Monday the council was set to approve a what he called a compromise that would lower the tipped minimum wage to $8 an hour but require employers to make up the difference if the $8 per hour plus tips does not equal $20 per hour. It would also cap any service fees restaurants charge at 10%.

But then Councilmember Janeese Lewis George introduced an amendment that would kill that compromise, and she was able to get enough votes eight to four. So for now, the tipped minimum wage is still in effect, but the council takes the second vote on the budget July 28, and they will likely take another shot at tipped min wage.

Initiative 83

On Initiative 83, Bowser did not include money to fund implementation. But at the last minute Monday, the council found the money for the ranked choice voting portion of the initiative but not the open primaries — so voters could have ranked choice voting in D.C. in time for next year’s primaries.

Commanders stadium deal

The good news for those who support the stadium is that all the money needed for the project, the $500 million for the infrastructure, the money for the parking garages and other components, is in the budget.

Mendelson announced Sunday the council plans to make changes to the way the half a billion dollars is financed. The mayor wanted to actually borrow more money than needed and put the extra money toward other budgets in 2028 and 2029. Mendelson said over the course of a 30-year loan, that would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. He is going to urge his colleagues to prohibit that, but it shouldn’t impact the stadium deal.

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