FBC FY21 Budget Season guiding principles

1. Acknowledge and direct funding towards communities hit the hardest by the pandemic
2. Prioritize preserving and increasing funds for programs that:

• ensure a secure, safe and affordable home to all;
  
• provide income security and support for all;
  
• provide employment with living wages, hours and benefits;
  
• provide education and training necessary for an improved quality of life;
  
• achieve environmental justice, which both fights extreme climate change and protects neighborhoods from harmful toxins;
  
• ensure that all have access to excellent medical care provided with respect and honor for all individuals, including high quality substance abuse and mental health services;
  
• are part of an effective “social safety net” that can minimize the impact of crises on the lives of marginalized community members;
  
• enforce restorative public policy that seeks to remedy past institutional oppression;
  
• support and affirm domestic violence survivors’ right to safety from violence and further victimization from institutions;
  
• embrace immigrant communities and guarantee them access to city resources;
  
• honor the culture and history of DC’s longtime Black and other communities of color and infuses existing communities with needed resources;
  

3. Engage the community in budget decisions through an inclusive and transparent process.
4. Recognize it is a rainy day now, meaning DC should tap into savings and surplus.
5. Identify budget savings that would have a limited effect on key services, such as delaying nonessential capital projects.
6. Increase revenue to stave off deep budget cuts and expand support for communities hit hardest by the pandemic. 
7. For increases in revenue:

• Avoid regressive revenue proposals that will have a disproportionate impact on those who have already been hit hardest by the pandemic.
  
• Ask more from those who can afford it more, or who have been mostly insulated from the economic impact of the pandemic.
  
• Repeal or scale back tax giveaways that are ineffective.