Two congressional agencies are expected to complete the first phase of a study on the District of Columbia's troubled finances by the end of this week or early next week, but results won't be made public right away, a congressional source said.
The General Accounting Office and the Congressional Budget Office will submit findings on various revenue projections, budget practices and past spending patterns to California Democrats Pete Stark, chairman of the House Committee on the District of Columbia, and Julian Dixon, chairman of the Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on the district.
Results of the short-term study are expected to help drive action within the next several months on a bill Stark introduced last August to increase the federal payment of the district by changing the formula on which it is based.
The Clinton Administration proposed a $670 million payment for fiscal 1995, which begins October 1. The payment this fiscal year was $635 million.
Within a year, the congressional agencies will submit findings from a second phase of the study that will include extensive research on debt service limitations.
Meanwhile, Dixon's appropriations panel is expected to begin hearings in mid-May on fiscal 1994 budget revisions and the city's fiscal 1995 budget. The city council and Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly recently approved a $3.4 billion budget package that includes more than $60 million in spending cuts and about $60 million in additional taxes and fees.
