The Washington D.C. Office of the Chief Financial Officer released its 2025 Long-Range Capital Financial Plan Report, which lays out an asset-based strategy for overcoming falling revenues attributed to the downsizing of the federal workforce.
"The District of Columbia is unique in its ability to catalog all District-owned assets, understand the condition of those assets, identify the highest priority needs for its 6-year Capital Improvements Plan and identify a plan for funding the maintenance," said the OCFO.
"The rating agencies have regularly recognized the District's efforts in this area as a credit strength."
The rating agencies and bond holders might be alarmed by the
The Washington D.C. area has been shedding federal jobs since the Trump administration took over, and the downtown office market has never completely recovered from the pandemic.
The city suffered a public finance blow in
A shortage of capital funding is being addressed with a fine grain look at the city's assets using a Capital Asset Replacement Scheduling System to identify what the city owns and prioritize what gets fixed first.
Per the report, "This process took several years, but as of the publication of this report, the District has 100% of its assets inventoried in CARSS."
The report also opens the door for more public private partnerships.
"The District continues to explore alternative funding methods, where appropriate, such as public-private partnerships. P3s potentially unlock additional private sources of funding that could supplement the District's more traditional tools for funding infrastructure."
Assuming the assets are managed efficiently the city is expecting to pull out of the nosedive.
"The analysis shows that unmet capital needs can be funded as early as fiscal year 2037, if the District commits 16.2% of its general fund budget to capital projects, 12% to support debt service on borrowings and an average of 4.2% on pay-as-you-go cash funding."
The current record-breaking federal shutdown is also affecting the city's finances due to budget snafu dating back to the last continuing resolution that was passed in
Language that allowed the city to work with its approved 2025 budget was omitted, forcing a return to 2024 budget numbers, resulting in a billion-dollar shortage.
The CR passed by the Senate in September fixed the problem, but the House has since closed-up shop.
Mayor Muriel Bowser recognizes that Congressional oversight over the city's budget and an inordinate amount of influence over its job base which has her looking for ways to diversify the local economy.
The mayor has also been the driving force behind building a new $3.7 billion stadium and mixed-use development on the site of RFK stadium which will be the new home of the NFL's Washington Commanders.
