By the Numbers: D.C.'s Borrowing

| Print Post This | Like (0) | Comments (0)

THE DISTRICT'S chief financial officer, Natwar Gandhi, is warning Mayor Adrian Fenty and D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray that the city's high rate of borrowing could lead to reduced Wall Street bond ratings down the road, making it difficult to finance big projects like the proposed Poplar Point soccer stadium and a new central public library downtown. Gandhi, pictured here, is urging that D.C. officials establish a borrowing cap.

As The Post's David Nakamura reports:

Under Gandhi's proposal, already approved projects — including the ballpark, school modernization program, Washington Convention Center hotel, an affordable-housing fund and the Great Streets project — would not be in jeopardy.

» $10,429: The debt per capita in the District, the highest amount of any municipality in the nation.
» 9: The current percentage of total city expenditures funneled toward debt service. Gandhi predicts that by fiscal 2010, D.C.'s debt service will rise to 12.1 percent. He's proposing a cap of 12 percent with a goal not exceeding 10 percent. Under current law, the debt-service cap is at 18 percent.
» $700,000,000: The approximate number of dollars the District is borrowing, rising from annual borrowing of $300,000,000 to $400,000,000 in recent years. The $611 million South Capitol Street baseball stadium and the $2.3 billion schools modernization plan have contributed to the increase in borrowing.

» "Finance Chief Urges D.C. to Put Cap on Borrowing" [WaPo]

Photo by Len Spoden for The Washington Post