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Cost soaring for day-to-day D.C. operations
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Related Topics: WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - The total cost to house, heat, cool, fuel, secure and clean every D.C. government agency is expected to soar again in the next budget year, due in large part to skyrocketing rents for millions of square feet of leased space.
The District expects to pay roughly $313 million in fiscal 2008 for so-called “fixed costs,” up from $294 million this year. The services required to keep the city government operating on a day-to-day basis would be the sixth-largest department if lumped together, and controlling them “is an important way to save money,” according to Mayor Adrian Fenty’s fiscal 2008 budget proposal.
“Our big opportunity in fixed costs is in containing our lease costs, and that is where we are focusing our efforts, to make certain every dollar spent in the lease market is used as economically and efficiently as possible,” said Lars Etzkorn, director of the Office of Property Management.
But controlling rent is expected to grow exceedingly more difficult in the coming years.
The District rents 3 million square feet of office space in 56 buildings, paying an average $26.51 per square foot — 31 percent below the current average market rate for Class B space. But the leases on half that space expire in the next three years, threatening massive rent increases “unless we move to shift government agencies into more owned properties, either purchased or built on District-owned land,” Etzkorn told the D.C. Council in recent testimony.
OPM is developing a strategy for consolidating D.C. agencies within the 3 million square feet of city-owned space, Etzkorn said. A study to that end could take six to nine months.
Rent is expected to cost the city $127 million in 2008, up from $106 million this year and $88 million in 2006. Electricity is projected to increase from $31.8 million to $32.1 million, natural gas from $37.8 million to $39.1 million, and security from $31.8 million to $35.4 million.
With oversight of communications and the city’s vehicle fleet, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer and the Department of Public Works also play integral roles in containing day-to-day operational costs.
At a glance
Fixed cost controls in place or under consideration:
» Building energy audits to maintain or reduce utility costs
» Personal computer energy savings plan
» Remote monitoring for security
mneibauer@dcexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
4:13 PM MST on Fri., Jul. 13, 2007 re: "Council, Mayor Dougherty take office in Havre de Grace"
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Examiner Reader said:
You should have a mandatory fitness test for your police officers they in the worst shape and over weight that I have ever seen and you no it so do something about it before the city gets sued because one of your officers has a heart attack
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