How would you change the mayor’s budget?

The Post asked the candidates in the at-large race for D.C. Council: “The D.C. Council is now reviewing Mayor Gray’s 2012 budget proposal, which Gray says includes $187 million in spending cuts and $127 million in tax and fee increases. How would you adjust those numbers? What does his plan get right and what does it get wrong?”

Update: A response from Dorothy Douglas, another candidate who is seeking this seat, has been added to this feature since it was originally published.

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Sekou Biddle: No more business as usual

The mayor’s budget proposes some important investments — particularly in education and housing. But increases in spending for a number of city agencies should be pared back at a time when critical services are on the chopping block.

I am pleased the mayor makes education his top priority in the budget. The proposed $77 million increase for the D.C. Public Schools is on target, so long as the new money is distributed equitably. We cannot afford to go backward on school reform in any part of the city — even during tough budget times. Regrettably, a large portion of the new spending for the schools would create positions designated for central administration, while some positions at the schools themselves are being eliminated.

This proposed budget continues a trend that has gone on for years in the District: Most of the spending cuts are derived from the elimination of agency programs, not from reductions in agency personnel. This trend cannot continue if we hope to achieve real savings. We have reached a critical point where business as usual will no longer be sufficient to close our budget gap and fund our most critical needs.

No one wants to eliminate positions. But it is clear the steady growth of the District government has put us in the difficult position of cutting services for those who need them most or raising taxes.

Rather than raising taxes, we owe it to District taxpayers to deliver the services they need with the revenue we already have.

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Bryan Weaver: A complete tax overhaul

Mayor Vincent Gray recently released his fiscal 2012 budget, with an expected gap of more than $300 million. The mayor offered a variety of ways to close the budget gap, including cutting services and raising taxes.

The budget contains close to $190 million in cuts, most of which would fall on human services and other programs for low-income residents. Two of every three dollars of cuts will affect housing, health and basic supports for low-income residents.

Before cutting services or raising taxes, Gray and the D.C. Council must make a concerted effort to collect business taxes already on the books, collect millions in outstanding fees and fines, and eliminate fraud, waste and abuse. Additional money can be found and saved in a variety of places before cuts to the social safety net should even be considered.

I support implementing “combined reporting,” a corporate income-tax provision that prevents large, multistate corporations from being able to avoid paying taxes on the profits they earn in the District.

In addition, the District must work to rein in cost overruns on capital improvements, collect hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding parking tickets, harness overtime and make sure we are collecting all Medicaid reimbursements.