Editing Washington, D.C. (section)

=== Budgetary issues ===
[[File:Muriel Bowser official photo.jpg|thumb|[[Muriel Bowser]], the city's mayor since 2015]]
The mayor and council set local taxes and a budget, which Congress must approve. The [[Government Accountability Office]] and other analysts have estimated that the city's high percentage of tax-exempt property and the Congressional prohibition of commuter taxes create a structural deficit in the district's local budget of anywhere between $470&nbsp;million and over $1&nbsp;billion per year. Congress typically provides additional grants for federal programs such as [[Medicaid]] and the operation of the [[National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997|local justice system]]; however, analysts claim that the payments do not fully resolve the imbalance.<ref name=DCAppleseed>{{cite web |title=Building the Best Capital City in the World |url=http://www.dcappleseed.org/library/DC%20Appleseed%20Report.FINAL.pdf |publisher=DC Appleseed |access-date=February 5, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511193725/http://www.dcappleseed.org/library/DC%20Appleseed%20Report.FINAL.pdf |archive-date=May 11, 2011}}</ref><ref name=GAO>{{cite web |title=District of Columbia Structural Imbalance and Management Issues |url=http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03666.pdf |publisher=Government Accountability Office |date=May 2003 |access-date=February 5, 2011 |archive-date=February 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202235328/http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03666.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

The city's local government, particularly during the mayoralty of [[Marion Barry]], has been criticized for mismanagement and waste.<ref>{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Powell |title=Poor Management, Federal Rule, Undermine Services |date=July 20, 2007 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/library/dc/mismanage/manage20.htm |newspaper=The Washington Post |page=A01 |access-date=June 10, 2008 |archive-date=May 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504041509/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/library/dc/mismanage/manage20.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> During Barry's term as mayor, ''[[Washington Monthly]]'' magazine labeled the city "the worst city government in America" in 1989.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+worst+city+government+in+America-a06977500 |title=The worst city government in America. |last=DeParle |first=Jason |date=January 1, 1989 |work=The Washington Monthly |access-date=June 6, 2009 |archive-date=April 30, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430052114/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+worst+city+government+in+America-a06977500 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1995, at the start of Barry's fourth term, Congress created the [[District of Columbia Financial Control Board]] to oversee all municipal spending.<ref>{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Janofsky |title=Congress creates board to oversee Washington, D.C. |date=April 8, 1995 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7DB1739F93BA35757C0A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 27, 2008 |archive-date=September 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919021500/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7DB1739F93BA35757C0A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |url-status=live }}</ref> Mayor [[Anthony A. Williams|Anthony Williams]] won election in 1998 and oversaw a period of [[urban renewal]] and budget surpluses.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

The district regained control over its finances in 2001 and the oversight board's operations were suspended.<ref>{{cite news |last=DeBonis |first=Mike |title=After 10 years, D.C. control board is gone but not forgotten |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/30/AR2011013003901.html |access-date=July 11, 2011 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 30, 2011 |archive-date=October 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016220602/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/30/AR2011013003901.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The district has a federally funded "Emergency Planning and Security Fund" to cover security related to visits by foreign leaders and diplomats, presidential inaugurations, protests, and terrorism concerns. During the Trump administration, the fund has run with a deficit. Trump's January 2017 inauguration cost the city $27&nbsp;million; of that, $7&nbsp;million was never repaid to the fund. Trump's 2019 Independence Day event, "A Salute to America", cost six times more than Independence Day events in past years.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/trumps-july-fourth-event-and-weekend-protests-bankrupted-dc-security-fund-mayor-says/2019/07/10/fb0d1de4-a316-11e9-b732-41a79c2551bf_story.html |title=Trump's July Fourth event and weekend protests bankrupted D.C. security fund, mayor says |last=Jamison |first=Peter |date=July 10, 2019 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=July 10, 2019 |archive-date=July 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710182846/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/trumps-july-fourth-event-and-weekend-protests-bankrupted-dc-security-fund-mayor-says/2019/07/10/fb0d1de4-a316-11e9-b732-41a79c2551bf_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>