Fenty’s 2010 budget calls for 1,600 job cuts

D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty Friday unveiled a fiscal 2010 budget that calls for eliminating more than 1,600 jobs, freezing tax exemptions and imposing new fees to help the city close a roughly $800 million shortfall.

“We have searched agency by agency and line by line, seeking enhanced efficiency and better ways to provide services,” said Mr. Fenty, a Democrat.

The third spending plan of Mr. Fenty’s mayoral term comes in the midst of a national economic recession that has seen the city confronted with declining revenues and an unemployment rate of more than 9 percent in January.

The budget contains $5.4 billion in local funds — down nearly 4 percent from the $5.6 billion in the mayor’s fiscal 2009 proposal — and eliminates 1,631 positions: 776 through layoffs, 398 through attrition and 458 that are already vacant.

A total of 145 positions would be cut from public safety agencies — including 45 civilian positions in the Metropolitan Police Department and 28 positions in the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department — while the city’s human services agencies stand to lose nearly 800 positions, including 240 in the Department of Mental Health.