Where Do the Dollars Go? DC’s Largest Agencies

The majority of the District of Columbia’s budget is devoted to a relatively small number of agencies.  There are two basic ways to assess the expenditures on various DC agencies and services.  The first is to examine spending from local funds — that is, funds raised by local taxes and fees.  The local funds budget is important because this is the spending directly controlled by the Mayor and DC Council.  A second way to examine the DC budget is to assess “gross expenditures,” which includes spending from local funds but also federal funds and other minor sources.

DC’s Largest Locally-Funded Agencies

Some 14 District of Columbia agencies spent more than $100 million in local funds in 2006.  Together, these agencies’ expenditures totaled $4.1 billion in 2007 and represented 76 percent of all expenditures from local funds.

• The single largest DC agency, in terms of funds supported by local resources, is DC Public Schools.  DCPS spent $827 million in locally raised funds in 2007.  The District also spent $277 million for its charter schools, bringing total K-12 education spending to more than $1 billion.

• Health and human service agencies accounted for four of the District’s largest agencies.  Together, these four agencies spent $1.3 billion of local funds in 2007.

• Public Safety agencies represented another four of the largest city agencies, with total local funds expenditures of $900 million.

• Other large local expenditures in the District’s budget include repayment of bonds issued for capital construction projects, the annual contribution to the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority, and the Department of Public Works.

DC’s Largest Agencies in Gross Expenditures

The District’s largest expenditures look somewhat different when spending from federal funds is

included.  Overall, some 16 agencies spent more than $100 million, including both local and federal funds, in fiscal year 2006. Together, these agencies’ budgets totaled $5.8 billion, or 76 percent of the District’s gross budget.

The largest DC agency in terms of local funds is the Department of Health, which provided $1.7 billion in services in 2006 —including $600 million in local funds and $1.1 billion in federal funds.  The largest component is the Medicaid program, which provides health care to low-income families with children, people with disabilities, and the elderly.  Some 30 percent of Medicaid funding comes from local sources and 70 percent comes from federal funds.  Nearly one-fourth of DC residents receive health care coverage through Medicaid.  As in most states, DC’s Medicaid program also covers the costs for the vast majority of nursing home residents.

Most of the other DC agencies with substantial gross funds budgets also have local fund budgets of $100 million or more.  There are two DC agencies, however, whose budgets are pushed above $100 million by federal funds.

• The Department of Housing and Community Development spent $51 million in 2006 from local sources and $100 million in federal funds, primarily under the federal Community Development Block Grant.

• The office of the City Administrator spent $107 million in gross funds in 2006, including $85 million in federal funds.  Most of the federal funds are for Homeland Security purposes.