Patterson writes Mayor Williams on Human Rights budget concerns
Mayor Anthony Williams
441 4th Street, N.W.
Suite 1100
Washington, D.C. 20001
Dear Mayor Williams:
I write to request a briefing immediately after Labor Day to discuss the status of your plans to identify the management reform and operational improvement savings that are part of the fiscal year 2001 budget. I understand that you have set cost-saving targets for each of the main policy clusters (human services, public safety, economic development, and operations), and that staff are preparing and reviewing options.
Such a briefing would be useful to help ensure that the proposed cuts do not affect the policy and program initiatives advanced by you and by the Council during this year's budget process. For example, the Gay and Lesbian Activists' Alliance contacted me to express concern about a possible cut to the Office of Human Rights (OHR). Since the Committee on Government Operations and the full Council made a priority of adding $200,000 to OHR's budget to support a backlog reduction initiative, in addition to the $100,000 increase that you proposed, it would be counterproductive to undo or reduce those increases. There are other areas in which the Council specifically reallocated funds to support important policy priorities -- school nurses in public charter schools being another example. It will be important for us to preserve priorities that we set through a deliberative process this spring as the process for identifying management reform and operational improvement savings goes forward.
I would welcome a briefing from members of the administration and would anticipate that this process would be useful to you as well. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Kathy Patterson
Councilmember, Ward 3