Sierra Club Asks DC Council to Ensure Sufficient Revenue for Environmental Priorities

Dear Chairman Mendelson,

The Sierra Club requests that the DC Council ensure adequate funding in the fiscal year 2020 budget for DC’s important environmental priorities. We also ask that the DC Council ensure sufficient revenue to fund these priorities and other important items in Mayor Bowser’s budget request.

The Mayor’s budget request includes funding for key environmental priorities, including:

• Implementing the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act of 2018, including: additional funding for Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) efficiency programs, with a 30 percent carve-out for low-income assistance programs and training for Certified Business Enterprises (CBEs); capitalization of the Green Bank; creation of the Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) program within the Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE); DC Department of Transportation (DDOT) implementation of a vehicle electrification program; Department of Motor Vehicles re-calculation of the vehicle excise tax to incentivize fuel-efficient vehicles; and other funding necessary to implement the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act.

• $188 million over the six-year capital budget cycle to extend the DC Streetcar to the Benning Road Metro Station in Ward 7.

• $122 million over the six-year capital budget cycle to build the K Street Transitway.

• $63 million over the six-year capital budget cycle for new traffic safety improvements to roadways, intersections, bike lanes, and trails as part of the District’s Vision Zero commitment.

• $13 million over the six-year capital budget cycle for energy efficiency retrofits to DC government buildings.

• $8 million in FY 2022 and 2023 to build a composting facility for organic waste.

• $3 million over the six-year capital budget cycle for electric vehicle charging stations.

• $238,000 in additional funding for the Office of Waste Diversion.

• Additional funding for enforcement to combat illegal automobile parking in bike lanes.

• $19 million over two years for stormwater and flood mitigation.

• An additional $55 million in programs to create and preserve affordable housing, which allows more people to live in a city with diverse transit options instead of more car-dependent suburbs.

The Sierra Club asks that funding for none of the above programs be cut below the levels requested by the Mayor. Many, but not all, of the programs are funded through special purpose funds. The DC Council has an unfortunate history of raiding these funds. Two years ago, the Council took $5.5 million out the Renewable Energy Development Fund, which is supposed to provide money to expand solar energy in DC.

Also in recent years, the DC Council has enacted multiple tax cuts, many to the benefit of multi-millionaires and other wealthy households. Among the recent tax cuts were a reduction in the top income tax rate for people earning up to $1 million annually, slashing the business franchise tax nearly 20 percent, and exempting estates worth up to $5.6 million from the estate tax. These tax cuts for the wealthy came amid widening economic inequality in the District. But the tax cuts were possible because of rising tax revenues resulting from the increasing prosperity of the District, especially among the wealthy.

This year’s budget is different. The federal government shutdown resulted in the District losing $47 million in anticipated revenue. To close that shortfall and to fund important priorities, the Mayor has proposed two changes to DC’s commercial property taxes. The Mayor’s proposed budget increases the deed recordation and transfer tax on commercial property worth more than $2 million from 1.45 percent to 2.5 percent, which will result in $79 million in additional revenue next year. And her budget proposal reverses a planned tax reduction for commercial properties assessed at over $10 million (from $1.89 per $100 of assessed value to $1.85 per $100 of assessed value), which will bring in an additional $25 million in revenue.

The Sierra Club fully supports both commercial property tax measures in the Mayor’s budget proposal. We ask that the DC Council retain both of these measures in the final budget. Given millions in tax cuts for the wealthy in recent years and the urgent needs to combat climate change, add affordable housing and fund other important priorities in DC, the Sierra Club believes cutting taxes for wealthy owners of commercial properties worth millions of dollars would represent poor stewardship of the District’s finances.

Sincerely,

Mark Rodeffer
Chair, Sierra Club DC Chapter

CC:
Councilmember David Grosso, At-Large
Councilmember Anita Bonds, At-Large
Councilmember Elissa Silverman, At-Large
Councilmember Robert White, At-Large
Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, Ward 1
Councilmember Jack Evans, Ward 2
Councilmember Mary Cheh, Ward 3
Councilmember Brandon Todd, Ward 4
Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, Ward 5
Councilmember Charles Allen, Ward 6
Councilmember Vincent Gray, Ward 7
Councilmember Trayon White, Ward 8
Mayor Muriel Bowser
Director Tommy Wells, DC Department of Energy & Environment