WASHINGTON (AP) — Two D.C. Council members say Mayor Adrian Fenty has redirected $495,000 from a job training program to cover separation pay for his political appointees.
In a letter Tuesday, Council members Michael Brown and Kwame Brown asked Fenty to reconsider. They asked that he restore the money and find another way to pay the departing appointees.
A spokeswoman for Fenty on Wednesday denies job training money was being transferred. She says the money in question was “surplus” funding in the job training budget designated for monitoring program performance.
Lawmakers have been struggling to maintain job training funds as the city budget has been slashed to cover a shortfall.
The funds transfer came just below a $500,000 limit that would require D.C. Council approval.
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