By James Irwin
The heavily contested Washington, D.C., mayoral race continues to heat up, with less than five weeks to go before the April 1 Democratic primary.
Six hopefuls, including current mayor and George Washington University alumnus Vincent Gray, B.S. ’64, were on GW’s Foggy Bottom Campus Thursday morning for a business-oriented candidate forum at Dorothy Betts Theatre, moderated by Washington Business Journal Publisher Alex Orfinger.
Joining Mayor Gray were Councilwoman Muriel Bowser; Councilman Jack Evans; Reta Jo Lewis, former Department of State official; Councilman Vincent Orange; and Councilman Tommy Wells. Thursday’s topics included transportation, business growth in the city, taxes and regulatory approval.
The candidates spent nearly 10 minutes on the topic of city transportation, including Metro funding. Mr. Wells, who focused much of his allotted time on transit and community development, discussed the economic burden of commuting.
“The highest unemployment rates are in Ward 7 and 8 east of the [Anacostia] river,” he said. “I did ‘living the wage,' where I was living on minimum wage for seven days, and the No. 1 thing that kept me from having enough money and moving around the city was transportation.”
Transit funding revolved around the establishment of a dedicated fund source for Metro, which Mr. Evans proposed could come from a portion of sales taxes. On Wednesday, Mayor Gray, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley pledged $25 million each from their jurisdictions to a Metro project that would install eight-car trains.
It isn’t enough, Ms. Bowser said.
“What Metro needs this year is $50 million per jurisdiction to even start on the way to the $6 billion it needs by 2025,” she said.
The six candidates, some of whom have been debating since last November, did agree on a number of tax issues, including increasing the standard deduction and combating a proposal to levy a fee on businesses of $100 per employee annually. They agreed that lowering franchise taxes, currently at 9.975 percent, would be critical to business development in the city.
“When big corporations, like Northrop Grumman, look at the area, they go right past the District,” Mr. Evans said. “You can be in Virginia at six percent. It’s a no-brainer.”
Still, while the candidates mostly agreed on tax policy, they often clashed about the best way to steward D.C.’s money, including budget-surplus revenue and the rainy-day fund — currently at $1.75 billion. D.C.'s chief financial officer released a revenues estimate Wednesday of $139 million for 2015, the third straight year the city has had a budget surplus.
Mr. Evans and Mayor Gray have advocated a continued buildup of the city’s reserves. Mr. Orange and Mr. Wells said the surplus presents an opportunity to cut taxes.
“$1.75 billion in our rainy-day fund? Projected surplus for the next five years? You just heard the CFO said we’re going to have $130 million for fiscal year 2015,” Mr. Orange said. “If we want to reduce taxes, there’s $130 million right there.”
Ms. Lewis brought up education as a key component of economic development.
“We have an adult literacy problem,” she said. “What are we going to do with that community that does not have a B.A. degree? That’s why I support vocational and skill and technical training. That’s going to provide opportunity to the unemployed.”
Polling in the primary has been tight. A January Washington Post poll had four candidates in double digits, led by Mayor Gray at 24 percent. A more recent NBC4/WAMU/Washington Informer/Marist poll has the incumbent leading Ms. Bowser, 28 percent to 20 percent.
Mayor Gray has cited D.C.’s falling unemployment rate as proof his economic programs, like One City One Hire, are working. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment in D.C., which peaked at 10.4 percent in late 2009, is currently at 8.1 percent. On the topic of the city’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, all the candidates agreed that cutting D.C.’s regulatory approval process is critical to attracting businesses and keeping them in the District. The mayor pointed to the business regulatory task force he convened last year.
“Their recommendation will be advanced to us March 15,” he said. “I’m looking forward to creating a single portal for those looking to do business with the District of Columbia. The single most important thing is to streamline that process.”