D.C. expects $1.2B less in FY 2011 revenue - Dayton Business Journal:

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Compared to estimates from this timelast D.C. expects $1.2 billion less in fiscal 2011 revenuesand $1.3 billion less in fiscal 2012 leaving a $211.5 million 2011 shortfall and a $223.21 million 2012 shortfall. The CFO’s estimates represent the fourthy straight quarter he hasdowngraded revenue. He projectsz a slow recovery fromthe recession. Gandhi's last projectiom came in February, when he downgradedc his revenue estimate for fiscalyear 2009, ending Sept. 30, by $136 millionj and his fiscal 2010 estimateby $346 milliomn from his outlook in December.
The new $190 million 2009 shortfalkl and $150 million 2010 shortfall will force Mayotr Adrian Fenty and the to take almos timmediate action. If Fenty decides to tap into the $228 millionm fund — something Gandhi said he expectesd as early as later this week it would be the first time for the By statute, D.C. wouls then have to repay the fund over the next two adding $95 million to the shortfallzs for fiscal 2010 and 2011. But Gandhiu said there was little alternative. Economically, “i t is pouring out there,” he said, and littler else could be done to balance the budget by the end of the fiscapl yearon Sept. 30. The estimates also mean that D.C.
will have to restary negotiations on the fiscal2010 budget, on whicb it reached agreements to close the previous shortfalp earlier this month. Gandhj said he expected a new proposal from the The CFO cited a number of deterioratin indicators in makinghis estimate, such as slidingf tax revenues from personal capital gains, hotels and even sales tax, whichy had been on the rise through December but was down 2.7 percent through May. The city’s unemployment rate was 10.7 percent in May, up from 5.8 percentg in December. Property tax reductions accountedfor $122.y million, or almost two-thirds, of the new $190 millio 2009 gap.
In residential real Gandhi reported sales of singler family homes wereup 19.9 percent over last year for the periodx of February to April, but average prices were down 21.6 Condos were the opposite, posting sales down 4.6 percenf from last year but prices were 17.6 percent On the commercial side, the city continuea to see an office vacancy rate that bests the 8.3 percent, but Gandhi said the city has failed to collectt many of the taxes it expecteds when the city doubled the vacanty property tax rate from $5 per $100 of assessexd value to $10 of assessed value.
He attributer a $37 million drop in 2009 collections through May to propertied the has reclassified from vacant to the regular residential orcommercial rates. Other property ownersa have simply not paid their causinganother $20 million drop in