D.C.’s chief financial officer is warning that council members will create an “unbalanced” budget if they spend $150 million from the city’s reserves.
Why it matters: Facing a $1.1 billion budget gap, the council sees the emergency fund as a way to avoid cuts to child care subsidies and anti-poverty programs. The independent financial watchdog sees that as off-limits.
What he’s saying: CFO Glen Lee describes the reserves as “needed to manage and support the cash flow needs” of the city government.
- Therefore, he wrote in a letter to the council on Monday, it’s “imprudent to depend” on them for city programs.
Context: Lee’s word matters because his job is to ensure that D.C. budgets are balanced, a federal requirement.
- There’s fear that Lee labeling the budget “unbalanced” would invite intervention from Congress, which has final say over the city.
By the numbers: D.C.’s reserves were 99% full as of the end of last fiscal year in September 2025 ($2.23 billion), per data the CFO provided to Axios…