Weeks after returning DC’s local fiscal year 2027 budget to the DC Council unsigned, Mayor Muriel Bowser has done the same with the Budget Support Act, the lengthy annual legislation that contains the legal provisions necessary for implementation of the city’s financial plan.

The mayor stopped short of vetoing either bill, meaning that the permanent versions are undergoing congressional review. In the meantime, the matching emergency legislation — also unsigned by the mayor — is in effect through the fall.

DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson blasted Bowser’s earlier action on the FY 2027 Local Budget Act and her stated rationale — in part saying that she was aiding the District’s “detractors in Congress.”

But Bowser again criticized the council’s budget decisions in her Aug. 11 letterto Mendelson. She faulted several of the council’s changes to her original proposal, saying they “move the District backward.”

Specifically, she objected to the removal of her proposal to align tort liability standards with those in surrounding states and the weakening of a requirement for DC employees to be in the office at least four days a week. On the latter subject, the council exempted several independent agencies and opened the District’s telework policy to collective bargaining.

She also objected to the council’s removal of provisions to expand eligibility for the Metropolitan Police Department’s cadet and senior police officer programs and establish “a more workable path” for recruits to meet a requirement for completion of 60 college credits.

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