WASHINGTON – Mayor Muriel Bowser is putting a freeze on new spending as the District deals with a massive budget problem created by Congress. 

Employee furloughs may be just one of the drastic measures D.C. takes due to a major budget crunch. It appears the city’s government won’t be hiring new people, giving raises or bonuses, adding new contracts, or paying overtime after April 27.

There is a process to request waivers, and District officials expect a lot of requests. It’s likely that critical city service workers like police and first responders will be asking for waivers for overtime.

What they’re saying:

FOX 5 received a statement from the D.C. police union is concerned about the impact of these freezes and is advocating to get a waiver.

“These measures, driven by a $1.1 billion cut to the District’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget, jeopardize public safety and hinder our officers’ ability to protect and serve our communities effectively,” the union wrote in its statement. “Our department is already stretched thin, and these restrictions threaten to exacerbate staffing shortages, limit response times, and reduce proactive policing efforts.” 

The police union says overtime is essential to maintain adequate coverage and they’re asking MPD Chief Pamela Smith to secure exemptions for overtime and hiring. 

Going further, the union says it’s calling on Congress and specifically the House of Representatives to restore the District’s full fiscal year 2025 budget. 

“The failure to correct this unprecedented cut — imposed despite prior approvals of our locally funded budget — is unacceptable and places an unfair burden on District residents and workers,” they wrote. 

What we know:

As of right now, there are no planned closures to District facilities or plans to stop any services. No furloughs either. But the city’s memo makes it clear that all of those things are on the table.

City officials have to formulate a budget that is $410 million lower between now and Sept. 30.

D.C. leaders would not give an estimate of how much these freezes will save but the frustration caused by Congress is palpable. The District has the money it needs to remain fully functional but they can’t spend it because of a mistake in the federal spending bill. 

The Senate passed a fix and the president supports the fix but the House has not voted on it and they don’t return until the end of the month.

What we don’t know:

On Monday, Bowser said she sincerely felt like the District wouldn’t be in this position but now they have to make plans that could eventually impact city services and workers. What exactly those plans will look like isn’t fully clear yet.

“I thought that because we had a bipartisan bill that came out of the Senate, we had the full-throated support of the President of the United States. This bill doesn’t save one penny of federal dollars and it was perfectly teed up for a vote, that’s why,” she said. 

In the next 10 days, the City Administrator has to give a plan to the mayor about further reducing money spent through potential furloughs or facility closures.

The mayor says that the plan cannot close schools but does give the city administrator the authority to terminate contracts, leases or other ways to reduce.

What’s next:

Bottom line, right now, we do not know what the exact impact will be but we do know that if the House doesn’t pass a fix when it comes back, we could see more significant impacts to the District and its residents.